The Resolution of Private Disputes by Arbitration. Byzantine Law and Post-Byzantine Legal Practice

The attribution of the private dispute judgment to elected arbiters received extensive application in the years after the collapse of the Byzantine Empire among Greeks who were subjects of the Ottoman Empire or under the Venetian dominance. By choosing this alternative form of private dispute settlement, the litigant parties saved a considerable amount of time and money and at the same time, they kept the Ottoman and Venetian authorities far from their matters which were to be judged. The aim of the paper is to present arbitral acts from the post-byzantine legal practice and to study the impact on them of the Byzantine legislative framework of arbitration.