[57]
Furthermore, that affidavits of objection
are of all forms of trial the most unjust, and that those having recourse to
them are most deserving of your resentment, one can see very clearly from the
following facts. In the first place, they are not necessary as the other forms
of procedure are, but they are instituted by the will and desire of the one
swearing to them.1 If
in the matter of disputed claims there is no other way of getting a judgement
than by such an affidavit, it is perhaps necessary to make one.
1 The affidavit of objection （διαμαρτύρια） , like the special plea in bar of action （παραγραφή） , afforded a means by which the defendant could prevent a case from being tried upon its merits, and so could be regarded as a means of thwarting the course of justice.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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