LEGISLATOR, a lawgiver, or person who estab-lishes the polity and laws of a state. Such was Mo-ses, among the Jews; Lycurgus, among the Lacedæ-monians, &c. See MOSAIC Law.
The first laws amongst the Athenians seem to have been those of Theseus; for what we can find earlier than this period is involved in fable. After Theseus came Draco the archon, whose laws were said, for their severity, to have been written with blood: by his laws every offence was punished with death; so that stealing an apple, and betraying their country, were treated as equal crimes. These laws were afterwards repealed by Solon, except such as related to murder: By way of distinction, Draco's laws were called Strepis, and Solon's Nomoi. The laws of Solon were in a great measure suspended during the usurpation of Pisistratus; but, after the expulsion of his family, were revived with some additions by Clithenes. After this, the form of government was again changed, first by the four hun-dred, and afterwards by the thirty tyrants; but these storms being over, the ancient laws were again restored in the archonship of Euclides, and others established at the instances of Diocles, Aristophon, and last of all, of Demetrius the Phalerian. This is a short sketch of the history of the Athenian legislation, before that state submitted to the Roman yoke. But many laws were enacted by the suffrages of the people on particu-lar exigencies; the decrees of the senate continued to have the force of laws no longer than a year. If a new law was to be proposed to the assembly, it was ne-cessary to write it upon a white tablet, and fix it up some days before the meeting, left their judgment
should be caught by surprise. The laws were carefully revised every year; and if any of them, from a change of circumstances, were found unsuitable or prejudicial, they were repealed: This was called πυρροσύναι τῶν νόμων, because the suffrages were given by holding up of hands. The first laws amongst the Grecians were unwritten and composed in verse, that the common people might with more ease commit them to memory. Solon penned his laws upon wooden tablets, called Azōn; and some authors with great probability assert, that they were written in the manner called Βυζογράφειν, from left to right, and from right again to left, in the same manner as oxen walk the furrows in plowing, thus,
ΕΚ ΔΙΟΣ ΑΥ
.ΥΟΖΕΩΥΧ
It was against the law for any person to erase a decree; and certain persons, called Ἑρμηνεύς, were appointed to prevent any corruption; whose business it was also to transcribe the old and enter the new ones.
At Rome the people were in a great measure their own legislators; though Solon may be said, in some sense, to have been their legislator, as the decemviri, who were created for the making of laws, borrowed a great number from those of Solon. See LEX.
With us the legislative power is lodged in the king, lords, and commons assembled in parliament. See LAW and PARLIAMENT.