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BIAION DIKE´ (βιαίων δίκη). This action might be brought in any case of brutal violence (Harpocrat.; cf. Plato, Leg. ix. p. 879 B, βίαιον τὸ τῆς αἰκίας πᾶν γένος); and we learn from Demosthenes (c. Pantaen. p. 976.33) that it came under the jurisdiction of the Forty. It was, however, in practice mainly restricted to two cases: the illegal and forcible seizure of property of any kind, but especially of slaves; and the rape, or abduction with a view to rape, of a free person of either sex. Under the former head came the irregular rescue of slaves from their masters. (Lys. c. Pancleon. § 12; EXAIRESEOS DIKÉ.) According to Plutarch (Plut. Sol. 23), the law prescribed that ravishers should pay a fine of 100 drachmas; but other accounts merely state, generally that the convict was mulcted in a sum equal to twice that at which the damages were laid (διπλῆν τὴν βλάβην ὀφείλειν, Lys. de Caede Eratosth. § 32; Dem. c. Mid. p. 528, § § 44, 45; Harpocrat.): the plaintiff in such case receiving one-half of the fine; and the state, as a party mediately injured, the other. To reconcile these accounts Meier (Att. Proc. p. 545) supposes the rape to have been estimated by law at 100 drachmas, and that the plaintiff fixed the damages in reference to other injuries simultaneous with, or consequent upon, the perpetration of the main offence. Demosthenes lays down the rule that all such acts of violence are not merely civil injuries, but crimes against society (πάνθ̓ ὅσα τις βιαζόμενος πράττει, κοινὰ τἀδικήματα, c. Mid. l.c.); and it seems clear that the βιαίων δίκη, like the kindred actions αἰκίας and ὕβρεως, might be taken up by a third party as a γραφὴ or public prosecution, provided that no private suit had been instituted. With respect to aggressions upon property, the action βιαίων is to be distinguished from ἐξούλης in that the former implies the employment of actual violence, the latter merely such detention of property as amounted to violence in the contemplation of law (Meier, Att. Proc. p. 546), as for instance the nonpayment of damages, and the like, to the successful litigant after an award in his favour by a court of justice. (Dem. c. Mid. p. 540.8.)
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