A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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7.2.1.4 Contingent interest clauses (“Beitrittserklärung”) were recorded

at the end of certain sale contracts.^136 Here the vendor acknowledges

that those parties with a contingent interest in the property, usually

co-heirs, have assented to the conveyance. The party with contingent

interest declared to the buyer that the buyer was allowed to “accept”

the object of sale, since they have no claim to it whatsoever.

7.2.2 Special Sales

7.2.2.1 Sale in Advance of Delivery

A unique group of texts published by Pierce shows that in the

Ptolemaic period, a sale could be effected in advance of delivery in

cases involving grain. This kind of transaction reflects either a spec-

ulation in the grain market by the second party, who paid a “price”

to the first party in exchange for the promise of delivery of grain

after harvest, or it masks a type of loan to the first party by the sec-

ond party, who would be repaid in kind.^137

7.2.2.2 Another type of sale known as a “service contract” (“Hiero-

dulie-Urkunde,” s§b3k) involved an individual who dedicated him-

self or her-self to a god “forever” or for a period of ninety-nine years,

becoming a “servant” (b3k) in exchange for divine protection.^138 In

earliest examples of this type of text date from 644 B.C.E. and come from El-

Hibeh in Middle Egypt. The practice of making witness copies died out in the third

century B.C.E.. Almost all examples come from Upper Egypt, the last such text,

however, dated 213 B.C.E., comes from Philadelphia in the Fayyum (see Depauw,

“Demotic witness-copy contracts”). For an example with ten witness copies, see P.

O(riental) I(nstitute) 17481 (time of Nectanebo I = P. Chicago Hawara 1), pub-

lished by Nims, MDAIK16 (1958), re-edited by Hughes and Jasnow, Hawara Papyri...,

text 1, which has a list of thirty-six witnesses. Other texts might simply list the

names who witnessed the agreement. In early Demotic, legal texts could be either

of an older, “narrow format” and have four witnesses or of a newer, broad format

with sixteen witnesses. For the distinction, see Pestman, Pap.Tsenhor.. ., 26–27;

Vleeming, “Demotic Doppelurkunde,” 169, n. qq. By the Ptolemaic period, this

number had become fixed, at sixteen for contracts. The normative number sixteen

for the number of witnesses to a valid agreement is confirmed in a text from the

Siut family dispute (P. BM Siut 10591, rto. iii, 5) which states that the document

in dispute was valid, “it being complete with sixteen witnesses.” On the location of

the witness list, see Donker van Heel, Abnormal Hieratic.. ., 57.

(^136) E.g., P. Hauswaldt 9 (240 B.C.E., Edfu). See the discussion by Partsch in Sethe
and Partsch, Demotische Urkunden.. ., 683–763.
(^137) Pierce, Three Demotic Papyri.. ., esp, 83–93, Pestman, Recueil.. ., texts 4–6. Other
loans of money repayable in kind may be these. See Devauchelle, “Pap. dém.
Amiens...”
(^138) Chauveau, “Un contrat.. .”; Thissen, Griechische... A new study of these “self-
dedications” has been announced by John Tait and Kim Ryholt.
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