Solon also released those in debt slavery and banned offering one’s own body or those of family members as security for a loan or rent. In addition, Solon granted amnesty to those who had fled into exile because of their indebtedness. He rejected, however, seizing the great estates of the aristocrats and redistributing their land to the poor.
Next, Solon turned to reforming the government of Athens. He believed there was a "right order" for governing the city. First, he reorganized Athenians into four new classes based on their wealth. Noble birth alone had been the basis of the old aristocracy.
Under Solon’s plan, only members of the two wealthiest classes could become archons or magistrates. For the first time, however, he opened up membership in the assembly to all Athenian citizens, even the poor.
Under Solon’s plan, the assembly chose nine archons and the magistrates by lot each year from the wealthy classes. The assembly also passed laws proposed by the archons.
Thus Solon’s new government was not a democracy controlled by the demos, the majority of the people. Rather, it was an attempt to balance political power among the economic classes.
Solon replaced most of Draco’s code of laws with one less severe and fairer for all. "Laws I wrote, alike for noblemen and commoners, awarding straight justice to everybody," he said in a poem.
Many of Solon’s laws concerned family matters. One prohibited dowries to stop marriages based on economic gain. Marriage, he wrote, should be for "pure love, kind affection, and birth of children." He introduced wills that allowed a person to leave property to anyone instead of only to relatives.
He banned the export of all farm produce except olive oil.
Solon reduced the number of crimes punished by the death penalty. He permitted, however, a husband to kill an adulterer caught in the act. He made penalties for theft heavier if committed at night or in a public place. In addition, he forbade publicly speaking evil of either the living or the dead.
Solon also attempted to make the court system fairer to the lower classes. He made it possible for any citizen to step forward and seek justice for someone legally wronged. Before only the actual victim of wrongdoing could make a complaint. Under the old system, the powerful could easily threaten weak and poor victims to discourage them from complaining.
Most important, Solon gave the assembly, made up of all the classes, the authority to act as an appeals court. This was a check on the power of judges elected by the wealthy classes.
(Sorry for the LNG answer!)
