840
and duties were specified in P. Mattha.^107 Daughters often received
their share of the parental inheritance at the time of their marriage
in the form of a dowry.^108 Half-siblings were required to share the
inheritance with their half-brothers and -sisters.^109 Joint property of
husband and wife was split—two thirds to the husband’s heirs, one
third to the wife’s. Occasionally, penalty clauses are found that dis-
courage interference from other siblings or conveyance of property
outside of the family without permission from the rightful heirs.^1106.3.1 Wills
Wills or testaments as a distinct type of legal instrument were not
a regular feature of Demotic law. There are a few exceptions to this,
dating from the Ptolemaic period, but the legal practice of these is
quite outside the realm of Egyptian law.^111 Children were endowed
with the property of their father through the marriage agreement
made by a husband to his wife. Occasionally, a sale document (s§
[n] ≈b3 ̇≈) was used as a pledge to an heir or as an annuity for
the wife, in exchange for being taken care of in old age and for
burial, or as a means of specifying heirs.^112 Occasionally the specification
of a real division of property to an heir was effected by the draw-
ing up of a deed of gift in which a testator records the giving of
property to his or her heir. Deeds of division (s§n dny.t p“, s§n p“)
record an agreement between co-heirs or between a parent and child
as to the amount and the type of the inheritance.^113 This type of
text was designed to preempt disputes.^114 If a man died intestate, his
eldest son took the whole of the property in trust for his co-heirs.^115(^107) P. Mattha 8:30–9:26; Mattha, “Rights and Duties...”
(^108) Pestman, “Inheriting.. .,” 59. Since we do not have codified law on these
points, we must rely on primary documentary evidence from which the “rules” are
reconstructed. One problem here is that the preserved evidence often concerns
unusual lines of inheritance rather than the normative pattern of parents to offspring.
(^109) Pestman, “Law of Succession.. .,” 60–61. For a family dispute arising from
such a situation, see Thompson, Family Archive...
(^110) P. Hauswaldt 13 (243–222 B.C.E., Edfu).
(^111) Clarysse, “Ptolemaic Wills.. .,” 96–98.
(^112) Pestman, “Inheriting.. .,” 59; P. BM 10026 (265/4 B.C.E., Thebes); Andrews,
Catalogue, text 1; Clarysse, Review.. ., 592.
(^113) Seidl, “Teilungsschrift.. .”; Donker van Heel, “Papyrus Leiden I 379.”
(^114) P. Wien D 10150 (510 B.C.E.). See Martin,Elephantine Papyri.. ., 348–50.
(^115) Pestman, “Law of Succession...”
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