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the house of the creditor and serves him in lieu of interest until such
time as he repays the capital (ASJ 10:A). He may be required to
pledge his land and family against his absconding (Emar 77; ASJ
13:35). There is, however, a variant form, under which the debtor
becomes virtually a member of the creditor’s family. In return for
a minimum period of service, namely, the lifetime of the creditor
and his spouse, the creditor either forgives part of the debt and gives
the debtor a wife (Emar 16) or forgives the whole debt and adopts
the debtor, giving him his own daughter as wife (TBR 39, 40).7.4 Distraint
In TBR 26, creditors seize a debtor’s wife (vb. ßabàtu), and the debtor
responds by selling her as a slave to a third party “of her own free
will” (ana ramàni“i). This suggests that distraint was, as elsewhere, a
method of putting pressure on the debtor, but not of enslavement
in itself.7.5 Debt and Social Justice^78
7.5.1 The right of redemption (vb. pa†àru) is frequently mentioned
in documents of loan with pledge but also in documents of land sale
and sale into slavery of the seller himself and/or his family, where
it is clear that the background is the seller’s indebtedness. The price
of redemption is sometimes equal to but, more frequently, double
the selling price. It is more likely that the contract was modifying
an inherent right to redeem than creating one, but the appropriate
conditions for exercise of the right and the parameters of its
modification are not ascertainable.7.5.2 Where the buyer of land is a close relative of the seller, it is
sometimes said that he bought “like a stranger” (kì(ma) nikari: Emar
20, 120; ASJ 12:11; RE 51; TBR 56). The implication is that the
sale was not at a discount, as between family members, but at the
full market price, like an outsider. The clause may have been designed
to protect the buyer’s title against future redemption by the seller
or his heirs.(^78) Leemans, “Aperçu.. .,” 229–32; Westbrook, “Emar Jurisprudence...”
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