A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

tains that he “gave regulations in their (the officials’) faces and laws

in their book collections.”^49

2.1.2 It was perhaps possible to turn to a pharaoh for a legal deci-

sion or at least to dispute in the royal presence.^50 In Late Ramesside

Letter 37 a writer declares: “Now Preunemef has contended in court

with your father in the presence of the Pharaoh. The King has

caused your father to be justified against him; and the King has

charged the officials to make the examination of his men in order

to give them to him. And the Pharaoh has said: ‘Give him men as

is fitting.’”^51

2.1.3 Sometimes legal parties cite the “law of the pharaoh,” gen-

erally in the form of a spoken order of the king, such as: “Let each

act with his own property as he wishes,”^52 and “let one give the

inheritance to the one who undertook the burial.”^53

2.1.4 In later periods one could petition the king directly, but there

is little evidence for this practice in the New Kingdom. Still, in O.

Ashmolean 1945.37+1945.33 + O. Michaelides 90, a man speaks of

bringing up an accusation against gatekeepers of the palace before

the pharaoh when he appears in his jubilee.^54

2.1.5 An amnesty seems to be attested in the Israel Stela, wherein

Merneptah sets free the “many who are imprisoned in every dis-

trict.”^55 So, too, in O. BM 5631, a man declares that the pharaoh

has released him from prison.^56

2.1.6 Theoretically, the king would hardly need the consent or sup-

port of his court in sentencing, but literary texts suggest a desire to

win the courtiers’ approval. In the Tale of the Two Brothers, the

(^49) Cf. fn. 2. For the role of the pharaoh in Deir el-Medina, see McDowell,
Jurisdiction.. ., 235–44.
(^50) Ibid., 236–39.
(^51) Wente, Late Ramesside Letters.. ., 72. See also Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 304.
(^52) Cf. Lorton, “Legal and Social Institutions.. .,” 355.
(^53) P. Cairo 58092, Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 290.
(^54) Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 22.
(^55) Hayes, Papyrus.. ., 44. See also Théodoridès, “Procès relatif.. .,” 48.
(^56) Allam, Hieratische Ostraka.. ., 49.
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