A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

   549

loans, in the form of a novation combining the debts of several per-

sons in a single document (KAJ 66 and 85) or of a contract with

oneself (KAJ 47),^115 show that in reality loan was understood as a

literal contract, whose binding effect was derived not from delivery

of the thing lent but from the drafting of a tablet.^116

7.2.3 Loans were mostly of lead (annaku)^117 or more rarely of silver

(kaspu) and/or grain (“e"u). The loan matured generally at the end of

the harvest. The texts do not mention the rate of interest; only penal

interest is stipulated, payable after the due date (edanu etiqma). Loans

were nevertheless not gratuitous, with the exception of emergency

loans (ina usiti). The sum mentioned in the contract doubtless included

interest, not being the same amount as the debtor received. Interest

could also be replaced by the work of harvesters supplied to the

creditor by the debtor (KAJ 50). Partial repayment of the debt could

cause the drafting of an “executed tablet” (†uppu ßabittu), a formal act

before witnesses in which a creditor receives a sum which he deducts

from the total of the debt (VAS 19 8; KAJ 104:7–10; OBT 100:9).^118

7.2.4 Certain contracts contain a “almu-kènu clause, already found

in the Old Assyrian period, which imposes joint liability on multi-

ple debtors (David and Ebeling, ARU 16; KAJ 32). It is also used

in the Middle Assyrian period for a single debtor (e.g., KAJ 37, 38,

44, 46) to emphasize his own liability and presumably to serve as a

means of execution against him.^119

7.3 Security

7.3.1 Security taken by the creditor may be designated by the gen-

eral term na“lamtu, used alone (KAJ 12, 21, 25, 27) or with “apartu,

“pledge” (KAJ 58, 65; JCS7 150 no. 6).

(^115) Koschaker, Neue keilschriftliche.. ., 94.
(^116) Ibid., 95.
(^117) According to Freydank, “Fernhandel.. .,” 74, n. 27, the term annakurefers
to lead in MAL and sale documents, tin being reserved for international trade.
(^118) Deller and Saporetti, “Documenti.. .”; Postgate, “Middle Assyrian Tablets.. .,”
20–21.
(^119) Koschaker, Neue keilschriftliche.. ., 117–26.
WESTBROOK_f13–521-563 8/27/03 12:27 PM Page 549