A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

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transactions; their basic common feature is the formal attribution of

a familial status to (young) men or women who were natural mem-

bers of other family groups.^106

5.4.2 Persons could be given the legal status of a son (màrùtu),

daughter (màrtùtu), daughter-in law (kallùtu), brother (a¢¢ùtu), or sis-

ter (a¢àtùtu). The basic aim of màrtùtu, kallùtu, and a¢àtùtuadoptions,

as we have seen, was the transfer of a girl to the parental author-

ity of another head of family who would give her in marriage. A

closely similar, but not identical, pattern occurs in some adoptions

into sonship (màrùtu). On the other hand, the formal adoption into

sonship of male adults represents the typical Nuzian legal device for

recording outright sales of real estate (see 6.3 below).

5.4.3 The rich corpus of “brotherhood” adoptions (a¢¢ùtu) has been

the object of numerous studies, leading to divergent interpretations.^107

It would seem that one of the main concerns of the a¢¢ùtu agree-

ments was to settle inheritance rights between natural heirs and out-

siders who, for various reasons, had been made legal members of

the family.

5.4.4 Real adoption of a son is well attested at Nuzi. Except for

some isolated cases, boys—and not girls—were adopted by men in

their legal capacity of head of the family, who wanted to procure

a(nother) son for themselves. Adopters’ wives are not mentioned and

are not involved in the operative clauses of these agreements.

5.4.4.1 The main purpose of adoption was to secure service and

support for the adopter in his old age. The entrance of an outsider

into the family was prompted either by lack of natural sons or because

it was more convenient to impose filial duties on the adoptee rather

than on one or more of the father’s existing natural sons. The basic

obligation of the adoptee was to serve (palà¢u) the adopter for the

rest of his life. A number of texts specify that service consists in

(^106) Cf. Cassin, L’adoption.. .; Stohlman, Real Adoption.. .; Paradise, Nuzi
Inheritance.. ., esp. 269–75.
(^107) Cf. briefly Paradise, Nuzi Inheritance.. ., 348–57; Stohlman, Real Adoption.. .,
208–33; Dosch, “Gesellschaftsformen.. .,” “Gesellschaftsformen (II).. .,” and Zur
Struktur.. ., 92–114.
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