A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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to make collection by others or cession of the claim possible. This

is clearly the case in debt notes which add the words “the bearer

(once: holder) of the tablet is the creditor” (wàbil †uppim “ut tamkàrum).^183

7.2.3.3 Proof of Payment

Upon payment, the debtor is entitled to get back “his tablet” (on

which his seal has been impressed) in order to “kill” it, which pri-

marily means cancellation, presumably by means of physical destruc-

tion, at least of the sealed envelope, which lends the contract legal

force.^184 If only the capital (“ìmtum) is paid, the creditor may keep

the tablet until he has received the interest (EL 298). When a debt

is paid without the original debt note being returned (payment to a

representative of the creditor or without access to the original debt

note) the recipient of the payment issues the debtor (or his repre-

sentative) with a quittance (“tablet of satisfaction,” †uppum “a “abà"è)

as proof of payment, which in due time he can exchange for his

original debt note, “whereupon both tablets can die.”^185 Such quit-

tances (EL 191ff.) usually add that “the tablet of the debt of D which

turns up, is invalid (sar).” The debt note had to be returned to the

debtor, who is the only one entitled “to kill” it.

7.2.3.4 Default

A creditor could summon his defaulting debtor (or have him sum-

moned by a representative)^186 in order to make him acknowledge his

debt and pay, enforce an arrangement, or acquire a security (see

3.2.1 above). Problems with such debtors in Old Assyrian gave rise

to a new type of record, which I call “payment contract.” If the

debtor refused to pay or did so under protest (denying his debt,

claiming his term was not yet over, that payment already had been

made to somebody else, etc.), while neither he nor the creditor could

(^183) See Veenhof, “Modern Features.. .,” 351ff., and “Silver and Credit.. .,” 5.
(^184) I 446:33ff. states that in such a case “one tablet smashes (ma¢àßum) the other.”
Survival of debt notes in the archive of a creditor may indicate unpaid debts, but
when they are without an envelope, it may reflect the custom of destroying vali-
dating envelopes and preserving tablets for administrative reasons. See, for this issue,
Veenhof, “Archives.. .,” 5.1.
(^185) See Veenhof, “Dying Tablets.. .,” 46ff. (CCT 3 45a:13ff. and 4 16a:25–32).
The survival of quittances shows that their exchange for the debt note might not
always take place.
(^186) See Veenhof, “Memorandums.. .,” 12, ad CCT 2 8.
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