6.2.5 Female Inheritance
6.2.5.1 Sources of Property
A daughter did not in principle inherit a share of her father’s estate,
except perhaps when there were no male heirs (see 6.2.1.1 above).
Instead, she could acquire property from several sources:(a) The most important was the dowry (sag-rig 7 ) which she normally
received from her father. It could include houses (NG 103, NRVN
230) and slaves (NG 88, 195, Steinkeller 71) as well as personal
property.
(b) She could receive a marital gift from her husband (Kienast, “...Ge-
richtsurkunde”), which again could include land and slaves (NG
99:15–17, 206:2'–13'; MCS 2 75 = Wilcke, “Care of the Elderly.. .,”
49) and in some cases might amount to the whole estate (NG 29).
The different types of gift could be cumulative: in NG 214:37–42
a wife was reported to have received two slaves as dowry (sag-rig 7 ),
one slave that her husband gave her, and three slaves that her
brother gave her.^99
(c) She could acquire property from her own earnings, which seem to
be behind the silver “from her hand” with which a wife buys land
in NG 99.6.2.5.2 Control
During the marriage, the bulk of the dowry was probably in the
husband’s control. In NG 195:24'–32' a woman defeats her brother’s
claim to a slave by showing that her mother had given it to her,
but it is her husband to whom the court awards the slave. In BE
3/1 8 (= Wilcke, “Familiengründung.. .,” 246–47), the bride’s father
promises to give “my house” (which may mean his whole property)
either to the groom or his daughter (the Sumerian forms do not
allow us to decide). In either case, the gift is likely to have been by
way of dowry, which the husband would control. Nonetheless, a wife
controlled some property herself, as she is attested making transac-
tions during the marriage (NG 83, 99).
During widowhood, she certainly had control of her own dowry
and marital gifts and, sometimes, of her husband’s estate, either
because he had bequeathed it to her as a marital gift (NG 7) or
because she was acting on behalf of her young children. The for-(^99) Cf. a gift (níg-ba) for a princess on her wedding, of unspecified source: BIN
9 438 = Wilcke, “Familiengründung.. .,” 284.
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