7.1 Sale^103
7.1.1 Private legal documents (and trial reports) record sales of
houses, orchards, slaves, cattle, and donkeys. The absence of sales
of arable land means that, unlike other periods, slave sales are the
largest recorded category.^104 The purchase price is typically in silver,
rarely in barley, and in one case, a cow (Steinkeller 32). Supplementary
gifts by the buyer, common in earlier periods, are attested only once
(Steinkeller 88*). The sale documents attest to a completed oral trans-
action before witnesses but, with one small exception, do not give
any details of the procedure (see 7.1.3 below). Their purpose was to
furnish the seller with a document of title. Their formulation in this
period shows some reduction in variety compared with earlier peri-
ods but not yet the standardization of the Old Babylonian sale doc-
ument. As in other periods, there are three basic types of clauses:
operative, completion, and contingency clauses.7.1.2 Payment
The dominant type of operative clause is: “A has bought (sa 10 ) the
object from B for x price.” A less frequent type is a receipt for the
price: “B has received from A x as the price of the object.” Only
a very few documents combine the two elements, as is standard in
Old Babylonian practice. Nonetheless, as Steinkeller points out, there
is no substantive difference between the two clauses; both attest to
payment of the price, which is the crucial element.^105 It is payment
of the price that transfers ownership, as demonstrated by a trial
record in which the seller sold a slave twice (NG 68). The first buyer
was able to recover the slave from the second, who recovered his
payment from the buyer.^106 By the same token, where the price had
not been paid in full, the seller would be able to reclaim the prop-
erty from the buyer (NG 104). Steinkeller 25 is anomalous in that
it records part payment of the price. Although it could not acquire
ownership, part payment may have given the buyer limited rights to
the property, for example, against third parties or for a limited time.(^103) Steinkeller, Sale.. ., and Wilcke, “Kauf.. .,” are comprehensive surveys. See
also Falkenstein, GerichtsurkundenI.. ., 121–27.
(^104) Steinkeller S. 4, from Nippur, refers obliquely to the sale of a field.
(^105) Sale.. ., 22–24.
(^106) In another case, the seller’s act was regarded as theft, since he sold a slave
no longer owned by him (NG 69).
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