in ancient Athens, an action for an inheritance. Daughters inheriting their parents' estate were obliged to marry their nearest relation; and hence it frequently happened that persons of the same family went to law with one another, each claiming to be more nearly allied to the heiress than the rest. The heiress thus contended for was called ἐπιδικασίας. So stringent was this law, that even after marriage her husband might be compelled to give her up to a man with a nearer claim. It was also not uncommon for men to put away their wives in order to marry heiresses.