Draco

Draco served as Athens' first legislator around 625 to 600 BC, tasked with replacing oral law and private vengeance with a written code enforced by courts. The Draconian constitution he produced was notorious for prescribing death as the penalty for most offenses, though tradition credits it with moving justice from the feud to the courtroom. Solon later repealed nearly all of Draco's laws, sparing only those concerning homicide - an inscription from 409/8 BC still referred to "the law of Draco about homicide" as current. Biographical details are sparse enough that some scholars question whether he existed at all, but the legal code attributed to him was formally dated to 621/620 BC. By the 18th century his name had passed into common usage: draconian now describes any rule that allows no mercy.