rare. [ad. Gr. ἐφέτης, agent-n. f. ἐφιέναι to impose, command, etc., f. ἐπί (see EPI-) + ἱέναι to send.] In pl. The members of a body of magistrates at Athens. More commonly in L. form ephetæ.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, II. 19. He [Draco] introduced some changes in the administration of criminal justice, by transferring causes of murder, or of accidental homicide, from the cognizance of the archons to the magistrates called ephetes; though it is not clear whether he instituted, or only modified or enlarged, their jurisdiction.
So Ephetic a. [see -IC.] (See quot.)
1849. Grote, Greece, II. x. (ed. 2), III. 107, note. Plato copies to a great degree the arrangements of the ephetic tribunals, in his provisions for homicide.
