From N.S. Gill,
Your Guide to Ancient / Classical History.
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Athenians No Longer Tolerate Their Rulers

The privileged eupatrid (aristocratic) few in Athens had been making all the decisions for long enough. By 621 B.C. the rest of the Athenians were no longer willing to accept arbitrary, oral rules of the eupatrid thesmothetai 'those who lay down the law' and judges. Draco was appointed to write down the laws (as may already have been done elsewhere in the Hellenic world).

Draco's Law Code Solves One Set of Problems and Introduces Another

Whether or not it was intentional, the codification of laws by Draco brought to public attention outrageous and archaic penalties in Athens. Part of the excess was Draco himself. The story goes that when asked about the harshness of his punishments, Draco said the death penalty was appropriate for stealing even so much as a cabbage. If there were a worse penalty than death, Draco would gladly have applied it to greater crimes. As a result of this strict, unforgiving code, the adjective based on the name Draco -- draconian -- refers to penalties considered excessively severe.

"And Draco himself, they say, being asked why he made death the penalty for most offences, replied that in his opinion the lesser ones deserved it, and for the greater ones no heavier penalty could be found."
Plutarch Life of Solon

Slavery For Debt

Through the codification of laws by Draco, those in debt could be made slaves -- but only if they were members of the lower class. This means members of a genos (the gennetai) could not be sold as slaves, yet their hangers-on (orgeones) could.

Homicide

Another result of the codification of laws by Draco -- and the only part that remained part of the legal code -- was the introduction of the concept of intention to murder. Murder could be justifiable or accidental manslaughter or intentional homicide. With the new law code the city-state of Athens would intervene in what were formerly the family matters of blood-feuds.

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1, 2, 3, Greek Terms

Features on Democracy in Ancient Greece and the Rise of Democracy

Sources:

Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, by Donald Kagan

The Greek City States: A Sourcebook, by P.J. Rhodes

The Rise of the Greeks, by Michael Grant

History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, by J. B. Bury

Thucydides

Pausanias

Draco

Thomas Martin Overview of the History of Ancient Greece