A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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in the favor of one individual, while the fourth is a list of payments

made to the same man.^37

1.4.5 The very significant Dakhla Stela ( year 5 of a King Sheshonq)

deals with the ownership rights to a well in that western oasis.^38 The

dispute takes place before the local deity, Setekh.

1.4.6 On Statuette Cairo 42.208 (reign of Osorkon II, 874–850),^39

a man prays to Amun that he protect and confirm the transfer doc-

ument (fimyet-per) which he had made in favor of his daughter. Oft-

quoted from this text is the statement: “Like the Great God (= the

pharaoh) said: ‘Let every man make the determination of his (own)

property.’ ” The man specifically describes the nature of his prop-

erty: “I am the possessor of property from my father and my mother

and what I [acquired with my own] hands. The rest is as a favor

of the king for my service in my time.”^40

1.4.7 Documents demonstrate that private persons may make dona-

tions to temples. Donations might include a chapel, various slaves,

fields, and considerable property and smaller objects.^41

1.4.8 As in earlier times, the biographies of officials, which provide

some insight into legal titles and administration, are an important

source for the Third Intermediate period.^42

1.4.9 P. Louvre 3228c (Twenty-fifth Dynasty) is a “writ of execution

of title” (“titres exécutoires”) following a judge’s decision regarding

the ownership of a slave or servant.^43 Several texts from the Nubian

period deal with leasing of land, a class of document which becomes

quite well attested in the following Saite and Persian periods.^44

(^37) Parker, Saite Oracle Papyrus.. ., 49; but note von Beckerath, “Zur Datierung
des Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205.” See also Menu, “Questions.. .,” 144.
(^38) Breasted, Ancient Records.. ., vol. 4, 359–61. See also Menu, “Questions...,”
143–44; Théodoridès, “Concept of Law.. .,” 318–19.
(^39) Théodoridès, “Amarah.. .,” 581–82; translation in Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,”
182; Jansen-Winkeln, Ägyptische Biographien.. ., 44–62.
(^40) Johnson, “Legal Status.. .,” 182.
(^41) Graefe and Wassef, “Eine fromme Stiftung...”
(^42) See Jansen-Winkeln, Ägyptische Biographien...
(^43) Malinine, “Jugement.. .,” 158.
(^44) Donker van Heel, “Papyrus Louvre E 7852.. .,” 83, “Land Leases.. .,” and
Hieratic and Early Demotic Texts.. ., 3–4 (leasing of land of choachytes in Thebes).
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