A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

2.1.4.1 The authorities can instruct a local djadjat court to release

persons held as security for absentee fugitives and reserve for them-

selves the privilege of pronouncing or confirming sentence against

the convicted offenders. They cite the laws of the pharaoh to justify

their actions, a fact which suggests that “the issuer of the directives

was not the king himself, though one very close to him in the judi-

cial hierarchy.”^102

Another important juridical term is the m'b3y.t“the thirty,” per-

haps a general designation for government officials in their judicial

function.^103 As in other periods of Egyptian history, administrative

officials might act as judges; indeed, a separate specialized class of

“judges”^104 or permanent courts of law^105 may not have existed.

2.1.4.2 Judgment was possibly carried out at the gates or entrance

ways of temples or palaces. One official, for example, declares: “I

did not speak an (unjust?) word at the two door-jambs.”^106

2.1.4.3 The Old Kingdom s3-pr is still mentioned in connection

with security.^107 In the First Intermediate period, an “overseer of

quarrels” may have been responsible for keeping the peace.^108 This

“overseer of quarrels” deals with the judgment of thieves, interro-

gations, and police inquiries.^109 According to the Duties of the Vizier,

the “overseers of policemen, the policemen, and the overseers of the

district report to him (scil. the vizier) their affairs.”^110 As chief legal

Vittmann, “Hieratic Texts,” 40. There is a qnb.t w, “district-court,” in the Middle

Kingdom; see Lurje, Studien.. ., 49–51.

(^102) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 141–42.
(^103) Quirke, Administration.. ., 53–54. See also Théodoridès, “Les Égyptiens...,”
108–9.
(^104) Thus Quirke, Administration.. ., 69; Ward, Essay.. ., 133. Cf. also Quirke,
Middle Egyptian Studies, 61.
(^105) Quirke, Administration.. ., 54, 166.
(^106) Schenkel, Memphis.. ., 102.
(^107) Andreu, “Sobek,” 3. See Quirke, Administration.. ., 83, 192; Andreu, “Les
Titres...”
(^108) Quirke, Administration.. ., 192; Simpson, Reisner Papyri.. ., vol. 2, 41.
(^109) Cf. “overseer of all disputes,” Fischer, Egyptian Titles.. ., 9. See also Fischer,
Inscriptions.. ., 108–09, discussing fimy-r “n'w ̇r mw ̇r t3, “overseer of all police upon
water and upon land.” See further Berman, “The Stela of Shemai,” 95; cf. Franke,
“Probleme.. .,” 123.
(^110) Van den Boorn, Vizier.. ., 250. The dating of this text is insecure. It may
describe the early New Kingdom.
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