A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

in the Old Kingdom the vizier could announce legal decisions only

on behalf of the king, but this, too, is not certain. Since he was also

chief finance minister, the exemption decrees are issued in his name.

The viziers of the Old Kingdom held such titles as “overseer of the

six great houses,” which is a term for the legal establishment,^72 and

“overseer of the royal document-scribes.”^73 His functions naturally

changed through time. The Old Kingdom vizier does not appear,

for example, to have had, even theoretically, the responsibility of

sealing or witnessing sale deeds, as was true for the New Kingdom.^74

2.1.3.1.2 The king’s role in the administration is illustrated by a

Coptos Decree of the late Old Kingdom wherein the king appoints

the son of the chief justice and vizier to prestigious government posi-

tions.^75 The son is to act as or become a sr, “magistrate.” The

pharaoh clearly delineates his geographic area of jurisdiction, namely,

the First through Seventh Nomes in Upper Egypt. His authority is

also closely defined.^76 He is to serve under his father, but above

other counts, seal-bearers, and similar officials. The inheritable nature

of the office is also apparent from this inscription.^77 The procedure

which lends official validity to the decree is in the end of the doc-

ument: “Sealed in the King’s own presence in the second month of

the second season, day 20.”

2.1.3.1.3 In the royal decrees for appointments it is explicitly said

that others had no legal right to contest the appointment.^78

2.1.3.1.4 The precise character of the connection between the cen-

tral government and the provinces, as well as the details of provin-

cial administration, remain obscure.^79 Leprohon emphasizes that royal

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(^72) Strudwick, Administration.. ., 188–98.
(^73) Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 57; Strudwick, Administration.. ., 199–216.
(^74) This seems to have been the responsibility of the witnesses to the transaction;
see Strudwick, Administration.. ., 333, citing Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 41, 195.
(^75) Coptos Decree M (Eighth Dynasty; Neferkauhor: Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente...,
184–89); translation in Wente, Letters.. ., 21; Théodoridès, “Les Egyptiens.. .,”
Maat, 74–78; Fischer, Dendera.. ., 94.
(^76) Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 184.
(^77) Martin-Pardey, Untersuchungen.. ., 146.
(^78) See, e.g., Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 153.
(^79) Leprohon, Civilization.. ., 1: 280. Some administrators may have traveled
throughout Egypt, but still lived, presumably, in the capital; see Harari, “Les Admi-
nistrateurs itinérants...”
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