712
6.2 Inheritance
6.2.1 On the death of the father, his heirs divided the paternal
estate. The father could, however, allocate the shares by deed in his
lifetime. In AT 87, for example, the father acknowledges a person
as one of his sons with regard to his estate, presumably meaning
that he established his share of inheritance. The text goes on to list
the members of his family and their status, thus defining their entitle-
ment to the inheritance. The recently incorporated son, for instance,
is listed as the third son. The first-born was entitled to a preferential
share (but he need not be the eldest son, as shown by the marriage
contracts AT 92 and AT 94).6.2.2 AT 87 also lists among the heirs of the family the “elder
daughter-in-law.” Indeed, the marriage documents attest to the fact
that daughters or daughters-in-law could also receive a share of the
estate of the head of the family, namely through dowry. A broken
passage in AT 92 concerning inheritance of the wife’s estate makes
as a condition “there being no son and no daughter.” This suggests
a right of inheritance in daughters, perhaps in the absence of sons.- Contracts
7.1 Sale^44
Records of sale constitute by far the largest group of legal texts so
far discovered in Level IV of Alalakh. They are usually styled ex
latere emptoris: the buyer receives (leqû) the object sold from the seller
for a certain sum of silver or copper. (In AT 72, it also includes a
quantity of emmer.) In one text, however, the description is drawn
up from the point of view of the seller: he gives (nadànu) for a cer-
tain amount of copper (AT 75).
It is significant that only movables are sold in Alalakh. It is pos-
sible that, as at Nuzi, land could not be sold. (This would explain
the recourse to the adoption strategy in AT 16.) Seven documents
are sales of persons, and two (or three, if we include the broken
tablet AT 73) are sales of oxen.
The buyers in these contracts are well-known members of the
nobility. (Note that in AT 71 it is King Idrimi himself.) On several(^44) See Kienast, “Kauf.. .,” 537ff.
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