1.1.2.8 Historiographical Documents
A certain amount of legal material is to be gleaned from the mon-
umental inscriptions in which kings recounted their exploits, some
of which related to their legal activities. The same is true of annals,
autobiographies and the like (e.g., the statue of Idrimi of Alalakh
and the apologia of Hattusili III of Hatti), and of the historical books
of the Hebrew Bible. The defect that these sources share is that they
are tendentious literature, and the criterion of self-consciousness as
regards the law needs to be applied.1.1.2.9 Literature
The rich storehouse of myth, legend, and wisdom from the litera-
tures of the ancient Near Eastern civilizations also contains a good
deal of legal material. The obvious caveats apply as to their con-
nection with the reality of ordinary mortals.1.2 Legal Authority^9
1.2.1 Written and Oral
Sources as historical evidence of law are of necessity documentary;
sources as legal authority may be written or oral. Therefore, before
listing the sources of legal authority, it is necessary first to consider
the relationship between orality and writing in ancient Near East-
ern law.
In developed legal systems, writing may play a number of roles.
It may be necessary to the validity of a legal act, as for example in
wills, treaties, and legislation. In these cases it may be said that the
document is the legal act. While not necessary, a written document
may, when used, still constitute the legal transaction, as where a
contract is negotiated purely by correspondence. It may be irrefutable
evidence of an oral legal act, as is a marriage certificate or an
affidavit. Finally, it may be mere evidence of an oral legal act, cogent
evidence indeed, but no more compelling than other forms of evi-
dence, such as the minutes of a meeting.
In the ancient Near East, although writing was widely used to
document legal acts, orality played a far more important role than
in modern systems. Speech acts, ceremonies, and solemn oaths were12
(^9) See the essays in Theodorides, ed., La Formazione...
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