1.4 Private Legal Documents
1.4.1 In comparison with the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the quan-
tity of material is considerable. The documents, many of which form
archives or dossiers, attest to sale, loan, lease, various kinds of dis-
putes and litigation concerning movables and immovables, marriage,
adoption, partnership, and inheritance matters. While most of our
legal material is from southern Egyptian Thebes, the exceptionally
important Legal Text of Mes^25 comes from Memphis, in the north.
This inscription records complicated court disputes and confirms the
existence of governmental archives.1.4.2 The large corpus of texts from the town of Deir el-Medina
in Thebes is the most important single source of information for law
in the New Kingdom.^26 Deir el-Medina, home of the royal tomb
builders near the Valley of the Kings, was presumably no typical
village, being under the direct control of the vizier (and later, the
high priest of Amun).1.4.2.1 Most cases from Deir el-Medina deal with fulfillment or
non-fulfillment of obligations (payment, sale and loan of objects, rent
and sale of animals, usually donkeys).^27 There is also litigation con-
cerned with landed property, family law, and inheritance. Theft is
occasionally prosecuted.^28 Much less common are cases of violence,^29
slander, or blasphemy. Some consider these ostraca official records
or documents, while others think them generally mere private notes
and “memoranda for litigants.”^30 They do not follow any very rigid(^25) Inscribed on a tomb chapel in North Saqqara, near modern Cairo, the text
lacks both the beginning and end; see Gardiner, Inscription of Mes; Gaballa, Tomb-
Chapel.. ., 22–27; Allam, “Publizität.. .,” 38–39; Eyre, “Feudal Tenure.. .,” 116–18;
Allam, “Remarks.. .,” 105.
(^26) See McDowell, Jurisdiction.. ., 3.
(^27) On types of cases, see McDowell, Jurisdiction.. ., 155–59. She stresses that most
cases were economic in character and not criminal. Théodoridès, “Dénonciation.. .,”
60–62, lists the following: (1) infractions against individual liberty or mortuary cult;
(2) violation of private property rights; (3) violation of professional oath and oblig-
ations; (4) abuse or excess of power; (5) damage to king’s property.
(^28) See, for example, Lorton, “Treatment.. .,” 44.
(^29) Janssen, “Rules.. .,” col. 296.
(^30) Théodoridès, “Concept of Law.. .,” 300. See especially on this subject, Allam,
“Schriftostraka.. .” See also Janssen, “Proceedings.. .,” col. 296; Malinine, “Notes
juridiques.. .,” 96.
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