Aikias Diké
（
αἰκίας δίκη). An action brought at Athens before the
Court of the Forty (
οἱ τετταράκοντα), against any individual
who had struck a citizen of the State. Any citizen who had been thus insulted might proceed in
two ways against the offending party—either by the
αἰκίας
δίκη, which was a private action, or by the
ὕβρεως
γραφή, which was looked upon in the light of a public prosecution, since the State
was considered to be wronged in an injury done to any citizen. It appears to have been a
principle of the Athenian law to give an individual who had been injured more than one mode of
obtaining redress.
It was necessary to prove
1.
that the defendant had struck the plaintiff otherwise than accidentally or in jest; and
2.
that the defendant struck the plaintiff first.
In this action, the sum of money to be paid by the defendant as damages was not fixed by
the laws; but the plaintiff assessed the amount according to the injury which he thought he
had received, and the judges determined on the justice of the claim.
