Law making: a history In this feature l Athens l tribute money l coinage decree Full weight of the law? As debate about whether the UK should remain part of Europe intensifies, following Prime Minister David Camerons negotiations with EU leaders, William Harris looks at how the issuing of directives by a centralised bureaucracy is far from a modern phenomenon I COLLEGE OF FELLOWS BURSARY This article is an extract from a PhD research topic undertaken by William Harris after he received partial funding from CTSIs College of Fellows, as part of its Research Scholarship and Travelling Bursary. This funding aims to push trading standards officers knowledge limits. Anyone wishing to apply for a bursary can email the registrar for more information. t is the prevailing opinion today that directives are a feature of the modern era, an ever-increasing corpus of law impacting on citizens lives. This perceived increase in legislation is often decried by government, business and the media. Lord Denning once referred to EU law as an ever-encroaching tide moving inexorably closer1. But this is not the first time in history that laws have been forced on member states and allies, and been received with reluctance and recalcitrance. In the latter half of the fifth century BC, Athens attemptedto force a decree on its allies (subject states), in a situation from which we can learn much and that resonates with our modern-day European Union. After the Persian Wars, Athens became a hegemon in the Aegean, creating the Delian League to protect its island allies from Persia. The treasury was on the island of Delos, where all the allies could deposit tribute payments to fund the league. Almost imperceptibly, the treasury was moved to Athens and the League metamorphosed into the Athenian Empire. The tribute money, originally paid for protection by Athens, was then used to embark on major building projects the Parthenon and Acropolis. The great Greek statesman Pericles said: What does it matter how we spend the [tribute] money as long as we keep up our end of the bargain [using the navy to defend the allied island states]. References 1. Lord Denning inHP Bulmer Ltd v J Bollinger AS (No 2)[1974] described European Union Law as being like an incoming tide. It flows into the estuaries and up the rivers. It cannot be held back. Source: global.oup.com TAP TO NAVIGATE PAGES 1 2 3 4 5 6 If someone coins money of silver in the cities and does not use [Athen]ian coins or weights or measures [but (uses instead), foreign coins] and measures and weights, [I shall exact punishment punishment and penalise him... Credits William Harris is a resident twinning Images: Fernando Cortes / Chachamp / italianestro / Shutterstock To share this page, in the toolbar click on adviser in metrology attached to the Egyptian National Institute for Standards. At some point between 446 and 414 BC, Athens issued the Coinage Decree (directive), now more correctly referred to as the Standards Decree. This was, principally, a metrological directive instructing allies to use Athenian weights, measures and coinage. The decree carved on stelae (stone slabs) was displayed in allied city squares, and the local councils had to swear an oath to uphold it. Failure to enforce the decree or any attempt to rescind or revoke it could result in the death penalty being imposed on the perpetrator. Reasons for Athens drafting the decree and enforcing it Economic Uniform units of measurement would enhance trade by doing away with the need to convert units as business flooded into expanding Athens. This is not dissimilar to our present-day units of measurement directive and its intended effect of getting all member states to use SI units2. Political As the newly created leader state of an empire, Athens could redefine itself as an imperial power. As an element of the decree, coinage was a mark of prestige in the ancient world; it was preferable to alter weight standard, if necessary, rather than debase coinage. After 450 BC, it was necessary to use extremely robust laws to prevent the dissolution of the League. Imperialist expansion Locking allies into Athenian units of measurement took away their prestige and made Athenian culture ubiquitous. Citizens of the leader state were implanted in many allied territories to ensure Athens wishes were carried out. How successful were the Athenians in enforcing this decree? The evidence is inconclusive. Only transportation jars amphorae may have changed volume towards the end of the fifth century, and these belonged to the autonomous allies Chios, Samos and Thassos. They had the least reason to comply with the decree because they contributed the greatest tribute, in the form of ships to police the Aegean with the Athenian navy. No strong evidence of weights being converted to the Athenian standards exists, with the exception of some bronze temple weights possibly used to weigh temple inventories, or hired to traders during festivals found at Olympia. These could have been manufactured merely to trade with Athenian merchants, however, because different standards existed in the Olympian collection of more than 460 weights. It is not direct evidence of a universal change to comply with the decree,and we cannot say if the weights were manufactured in allied states or colonies, or if they arrived there via merchants from Athens. The only other large collection of weights to be discovered was unearthed in Attica. There is evidence that, in the late fifth century BC, Athens manipulated its weight standard increasing the number of coin drachmae to the mina in times of crisis, particularly during the Peloponnesian War, when Athens was often blockaded by Sparta on land and sea, so trade was severely restricted. It would have been impossible to enforce weights and measures standards on others when the standard itself was fluctuating. The allied states never ceased minting and this was, perhaps, the correct decision as we view it with the benefit of hindsight and the difficulties that a single currency has brought in the modern era. So what can be learned from this decree to serve us and Europe in the modern era because we must learn from history, or fall victim to the same mistakes, repeatedly. The date of the decree has been much debated and an argument has been put forward that there were multiple announcements of it. Was this the result of failures to enforce it? The harsh tone (maximum harmonisation3) suggests the decree was written by the extreme democrat demagogues of the late fifth century: the general Cleon and his associates businessmen politicians who gained political power after the death of the statesman Pericles at the start of the Peloponnesian War. A copy of the decree, reconstructed by epigraphic scholars from six stone fragments, demonstrates an almost cruel, rapacious and venal attitude to the allied states, should they fail to comply (see extract, page 1). Any state should consider when and how to enforce a decree, and Athens experience suggests it is unwise to proceed in the midst of a crisis. Athens was embroiled in the Peloponnesian War between 431 and 404 BC, so was hardly in a position to enforce the decree during this period. References 2. The International System of Units (SI) defines seven units ofmeasureas a basic set from which all otherSIunits are derived. 3. Maximum harmonisation means that national law may not exceed the terms of the legislation. Failure to enforce the decree is less likely to reflect the statesmanship of Pericles during the third quarter of the fifth century, although his attitude to empire was betrayed when he stated: It was wrong to take [create] it, but it would be wrong to give it up now. Political posturing if that is the motive for a decree will ultimately fail, and an arrogant, strident, aloofness to your allies will, at best, be met with passive aggression. An economic argument for standardised units of measurement encouraging and facilitating trade makes sense. However, the way tobring this about is through well-considered diplomacy, rather thanenforcement by extreme measures imposed on allies by democraticcentralism. Today, some sections of the UK media criticise barmy regulations coming out of Brussels, which are seen as a burden on business. Directives are often portrayed as being extreme in bureaucracy, but detached from reality. This type of media treatment is not new, however. In 414 BC, the comedic playwright Aristophanes introduced his play Birds to Athens. In one scene, a decree monger offers to sell the Athenians a set of new laws, including a decree on weights and measures, which uses the expression the people of Cloud-cuckooland are to use the same weights and measures The audience was full of politicians, who liked to know what Aristophanes was saying about them and what would be well received by his citizen audience as always. As we enter a period of debate on our future with the EU, it is pertinent to consider an earlier empires dealings with its allies, its attempts at foreign policy and its failures. All the elements were present: imperialism; a strident and less-than-equal political relationship; and one might even say a monetary crisis with the attempt to satisfy the needs of a central bank. A period of crisis resulted in failure and a redefining of the political relationship among the ancient Greek states; first Sparta, then Thebes, and culminating in the hegemony of Macedon. As the EU moves from one crisis Greece and the euro to another over which member states cannot agree a common policy, we will not have an Alexander the Great to redefine the system and fix it for centuries to come. The Standards Decree of ancient times is one failure in a microcosm of foreign policy that indicated a state in decline. It was never enforced and no system of universal units of measurement has been imposed since. Even Alexander preferred to leave units as they were, with local systems used and trading by means of equivalence a system used by Persia before his conquests. Indeed, in Europe the units system was not unified until the directives of the turn of the 20th century to introduce SI units to the exclusion of traditional units, which met with sporadic resistance in the UK. There is a lesson to be learned from the method employed by Athens. The UK should consider its relationship with the EU and how it might be redefined without losing the advantages of ease of trade. Results can be achieved without overbearing political posturing and the failure of negotiations is too difficult to contemplate. Let us learn from the results in ancient Greece and how the story unfolded over weights, measures and coinage.