Is there any custom more democratic than that which permits citizens capable of public speaking to assist those who are incapable when they are in trouble?

Is there any custom more democratic than that which permits citizens capable of public speaking to assist those who are incapable when they are in trouble? Hyperides. In Defence of Lycopbron. Speech 1. Section 10.

Historical note: "Under the various late Roman civil cognitio procedures, advocates could be involved in every phase of the lawsuit, from the principium litis (including the registering of the case, the summons, the response of the defendant and the prescribing of the necessary cautiones), through the medium litis (formally encompassing the narratio of the plaintiff and the contradictio of the defendant before the judge) to the definitum negotium (the administration of proofs up to the definitive sentence). If appointed, defense advocates would also be at hand throughout a public/‘criminal’ trial." - Caroline Humfress, Orthodoxy and the Courts in Late Antiquity

Image: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros III flanked by personifications of Truth and Justice, and by his senior court dignitaries from illuminated manuscript dated between 1074 and 1081 courtesy of the National Library of France.