A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

(Romina) #1

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7.11.2 The terminology is not uniform. It is not always possible to
distinguish between this contract and certain types of lease.^208 Contracts
of hire could be linked with contracts for supplies through the duty
to carry out construction work. The payment for goods or services
is often referred as a fee for hire (idù). It has been noted that in
contrast to the hire of persons, in which the employee is made avail-
able to (ina pàn) the employer (= hirer), in a contract for services,
the work is “made available to” the worker.^209

7.11.3 The contractor’s duty to deliver could be formulated as a
real contract, that is, the quid pro quo for raw materials made avail-
able (ina pàn) to him. In debt notes, the client’s claim to delivery is
based on a (possibly fictional) prepayment. Measures to ensure per-
formance included sureties, contractual penalties, and oaths. As befits
such a heterogeneous contract, from the Achaemenid period on, the
dialogue document form is often found.

7.12 Partnership


7.12.1 Types of Partnership


7.12.1.1 The most important form, attested from the seventh century
until the Achaemenid period, is designated by the term ana ¢arràni—
literally, “for a business journey.” Normally it is to be understood
as any common business enterprise, although the term must origi-
nally have been coined for trading journeys.^210 There are two types:


  1. Unilateral investment: associations of multiple partners with the cap-
    ital provided by one partner or group of partners.

  2. Mutual investment: associations of two persons, each providing
    capital.


For the establishment of the partnership, debt notes were issued, in
which the purpose of the contract is stated.
In the first type, the establishing clause reads: “x silver, belong-
ing to PN 1 (creditor, investor) is to the debit of PN 2 (debtor) for a
business enterprise” (x kaspu “aPN 1 ina mu¢¢iPN 2 ana ¢arràni). There
follows a profit-sharing clause: “in everything that he earns in the
city and in the country, the debtor will enjoy an equal share of the

(^208) See e.g., Jursa, Archiv.. ., 44–51.
(^209) NRVU, p. 531.
(^210) Lanz, ¢arrànu...
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