are one letter requesting the addressee to judge the case of a cer-
tain person^75 and two letters from a certain Ur-lugal.k to an other-
wise unknown Inim-ma^76 informing him about the opposing party
and requesting him to prompt the judicial authority to render judg-
ment and to issue a sealed document. In one case, this is the (local)
saºgºga of Isin. In the other, the opposing party comprises citizens of
Nippur; here the governor of Nippur is to be urged to act as judge.
A third letter^77 reports the next preliminary step: the unnamed sender
tells a man who has authority over two people, the opponents of
the same Ur-lugal.k, to send them to him.3.3.4 After these preliminaries, the investigation of the commis-
sioner and the litigation proper begin.^78 The reports mostly intro-
duce the object of the litigation with a short summary of the previous
transaction or, in the case of an offense, the wrong caused to the
injured party.^79 These summaries presumably represent the results of
the commissioner’s research. Declarations of the parties during liti-
gation^80 and an occasional withdrawal (nam-gú-“è ba-ni-a 5 )^81 may be
recorded. The successful efforts of the court to establish the truth
by weighing conflicting statements and evidence are referred to by
the term bar-tam “to examine, select” (PSD).^82(^75) SRU 94; FAOS 19 Gir 30. The addressee (Du-du) is asked to render judg-
ment ki Ad-da-ta “from the place of Adda” understood by the editors as substitu-
tion. I understand it as “under the authority of Adda.”
(^76) SRU 92–93; FAOS 19 Is 1–2.
(^77) SRU 94; FAOS 19 Is 4.
(^78) The Sumerian term di.d du 11 .g “to litigate with someone for something” is
extremely rare at this time: see SRU p. 219 and 91 ii 10–iii 1: Nin-ºgi“-e, di-bi,
Úr-ni, Zà-mu-ra in-na-du 11 “because of N., Urni conducted this litigation against
Zamu.k;” See further Yang, Sargonic Inscriptions.. ., no. 650, 1–3: Lú-dEn-[líl-lá-
ra/da], Ur-dEn-líl-lá da[m-gàr], di ì-da-du 11 “The merchant Ur-Enlila.k litigated
with Lu-En[lila.k].” An Akkadian document uses dìànum(SRU 26 i 3: i-dè-na-ma).
(^79) SRU 80.
(^80) SRU 80: 4–5; 85: rev. 11–15; 85a: 1–5; 87: 3–11; 100: 1'–3'; Steinkeller, Third-
Millennium.. ., no. 6: 2'–7'; 61: (= Krecher, “Neue Sumerische.. .,” no. 19) 18–21.
(^81) Literally “A made it (an object of ) loot(ing) for B,” implying, apparently, relin-
quishment of the object but not of the claim; see SRU, pp. 106–7 on no. 55:43–44
“auf etwas verzichten” (for the PBS 9 texts see now Westenholz, Old Sumerian...,
nos. 75: 16–17; 76: 7–10); Krecher, “Neue sumerische.. .,” 26 iii 8 (with com-
mentary); Foster, “Business Documents.. .,” no. 7:6–10. (I do not understand the
translation on p. 152.)
(^82) SRU 91: 9–10: [saºg g]u-“è, bar ì-na-tam “He examined (it for?) him thor-
oughly (‘to the tip of the thread’)”; iii 5–6: saºg gu-“è, bar bí-tam “He examined it
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