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7.1.4 The sale of property belonging to another, for example, by
a pledgee, makes the seller liable to indemnify other parties. He must
compensate its owner with the value of the pledge, while the buyer
keeps the item purchased. If he refuses to pay this compensation,
the owner may seize the item from the present possessor (i.e., the
buyer in good faith), who can seek reimbursement from the seller
(MAL C+G 4).7.2 Loans^109
7.2.1 In its basic form,^110 a document of loan opens with the name
and seal of the debtor, then mentions the object that the debtor has
taken (ilqi) from the creditor, and finally sets the repayment date.
Optional clauses provide for penal interest, security, or payment of
the debt to the bearer of the tablet. This last provision allows the
debt to be assigned to another creditor or to the bank (KAJ 122;
40; 41).^111 Cancellation of the debt necessitated the drafting of a new
tablet and the destruction of the previous one.^112 The document
closes with the names of the witnesses, whose seals are impressed
anywhere on the tablet, and the date. If the practice of the mer-
chants of A““ur is to be given credence, witnesses were to be fur-
nished by the debtor, while the creditor brought the scribe, whose
services had to be paid for.^113 Use of an envelope seems to have
been limited mainly to administrative receipts, to prove that the
debtor’s obligation was extinguished. At the end of the Middle
Assyrian period, perhaps under the influence of loans for consump-
tion made to a predominantly Aramean rural population, the prac-
tice is found of attaching a seal impressed on a clay bulla and a
cuneiform text to a papyrus drafted in Aramaic.^1147.2.2 Loan was in general short term, most frequently for six months.
It required delivery of the object to the debtor, who undertook to
return it, in specie or in value. Nonetheless, the examples of fictitious(^109) Ibid., 92ff.; Saporetti, “Prestito...”
(^110) David, “Rechtsurkunden.. .”; Postgate, “Middle Assyrian Tablets...”
(^111) Deller and Saporetti, “Documenti... contratto,” 49; Postgate, “Middle Assyrian
Tablets.. .,” 32–33, and “Archives.. .,” 181.
(^112) Deller and Saporetti, “Documenti... contratto.”
(^113) Nissen, “Kaufleute.. .,” 119 and n. 31.
(^114) Postgate, “Shift...”
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