(1) The ἐκκλησία or general assembly had supreme power in all the most important matters: it consisted of all Athenian citizens who had attained the age of manhood: its meetings were held on the Pnyx, a hillside in the open air: four ordinary meetings were held on fixed days in each prytany, and other meetings for special business could at any time be summoned by proclamation[165]. Though the assembly had supreme power to make laws and pass resolutions determining the policy of the city, it submitted to certain restraining formalities. No law could be proposed in the assembly till it had been considered and sanctioned by the council of five hundred[166]: and any resolution or any new law passed by the assembly might afterwards be indicted before a popular law-court on the ground that it violated or contradicted some existing law or was contrary to the Athenian constitution. If the law or resolution was condemned by the law-court it was _ipso facto_ cancelled. Moreover, if proceedings were taken within a year after the vote of the assembly, the proposer as well as the proposition might be indicted, and if the court decided against him he was subject to a heavy fine. The Greek name for the indictment was Graphê Paranomôn which may be translated literally Indictment for Illegality[167]. The Graphê Paranomôn was, beyond all doubt, the best bulwark of the Athenian constitution: though there were occasions, as we shall see, when it did not save the constitution from being violated. [165] The place of meeting is proved by Aristophanes, _Acharnians_, line 20, ἡ πνὺξ αὑτηί, _Knights_, line 42, Δῆμος πυκνίτης and many other passages: the number of ordinary meetings by Aristotle, _Constitution of Athens_, 43. [166] I do not know any evidence which proves directly that this rule was in force at the time of the Peloponnesian war. But we have already seen (page 60) that the rule was made by Solon, and it was certainly in force in the time of Demosthenes (366 B.C.-322 B.C.): see Demosthenes, _contra Androtionem_, p. 594, and _contra Timocratem_, p. 715, especially the words πρῶτον μὲν ... πρὸς τὴν βουλήν, εἶτα τῷ δήμῳ. Smith, _Dictionary of Antiquities_, article Boulê. [167] The events of 411 B.C. prove clearly that the procedure by Graphê Paranomôn was then an established part of the Athenian constitution: see Thucydides VIII. 67, Aristotle, _Constitution of Athens_, 29: and further on in the present chapter, p. 93.