son, and the maintenance of the mortuary cult by the same.^221 The
possibility of conflicting interests within the family is also perceived,
so that a person might explicitly prohibit descendants or siblings
from raising a counterclaim to possession of property.^222 The pharaoh
forbids that the office of a malefactor be inherited by his son.^2235.1 Marriage
While the institution of marriage had economic and legal significance
throughout Egyptian history, the legal nature of marriage in the Old
Kingdom is nowhere specified.^224 It was presumably a private mat-
ter, requiring no secular or religious ceremony.^225 The idiom “to give
X to Y as his wife” is attested, but no more information regarding
the event is provided in the texts.^2265.1.1 Conditions
As in the Late period, a man and woman could apparently contract
agreements of support. For example (concerning a maidservant): “This
maidservant of Meriri is surely elated whenever she sees her lord’s
agent. Mehu, however, has set forth his legal commitment to sup-
port her [in] this letter which I had him bring to me.”^227 This has
been equated with the Late period s'n¢, a document assuring regu-
lar support for a woman in connection with marriage.^228
It is not always clear whether the wife had absolute control over
property inherited by her. She may have received only the income
from the property, and not full authority over it.^229
There is no evidence for consanguinous marriages in the Old
Kingdom.^230(^221) Allam, “Familie.. .,” cols. 101–2. See also Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 88,
211–13; Pirenne, Histoire.. ., 2: 345–89.
(^222) Allam, “Obligations.. .,” 95; Gödecken, Meten.. ., 256–58.
(^223) Allam, “Obligations.. .,” 90–91. See also Willems, “Crime.. .,” 33.
(^224) See Allam, “Ehe,” cols. 1162–81; Théodoridès, “Droit Matrimonial.. .”;
Pestman, Marriage...
(^225) Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 179.
(^226) Urk. 1, 52, l. 2; see Pestman, Marriage.. ., 9. Óm.tis the standard word for
“wife” from the Old Kingdom onward (Pestman, Marriage.. ., 10).
(^227) Cairo CG 58043 (Sixth Dynasty; Wente, Letters.. ., 56), edited in Baer,
“Deed...”
(^228) Baer, “Deed.. .,” 7. Cf. Menu, Recherches.. ., 323; Allam, “Mariage.. .,” 119.
(^229) Goedicke,Rechtsinschriften.. ., 128–29.
(^230) See ’ernÿ, “Consanguineous Marriages...”
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