Draco

By Colin Liddell: Solon ‘the Wise’ earned his sobriquet when he repealed the laws of Draco in early 6th century Athens. Before then, the laws of Athens had decreed death even for minor offences. Solon realized that if every crime meant death, then a criminal might reason that it would make sense to murder and steal rather than to just to steal; especially if murdering the victim improved the value of the theft and its…