“It was [in ancient Greek law] provided that all motions to repeal or amend an existing law should be brought before the ecclesia or general meeting of citizens, at the beginning of the year. They might be then and there rejected; but if a motion was received favorably, the ecclesia appointed a body of nomothetes, sometimes as many as a thousand in number, before whom the proposal was put on trial according to the regular forms of Athenian judicial procedure. A majority vote of the nomothetes was decisive for acceptance or rejection.” 5 Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia 4011 (1895).
nomothete
nomothete (noh-m[schwa]-theet), n. [fr. Greek nomos “law” + thetes “a person who prescribes”] Hist. A lawgiver. — Also spelled nomotheta.
