793
- L
3.1 Parties
The scarce court records hardly permit generalization. Menu has
observed that the parties involved in several texts concerning a slave
are of “modest” social and economic status: choachyte priests,^141
singers of Amun, soldiers, and farmers.^142 The inscriptions of Henuttawy
and Maatkare imply that lower status individuals might conceivably
dispute ownership rights with those two distinguished ladies.^143 Women
can transact legal matters and initiate court cases. In P. Vatican 10574
two women conduct a sales transaction with the great steward of
Amun.^144 In a few cases (e.g., P. Brooklyn 16.205), one party is appar-
ently represented by another man (a rw≈, “agent,” or relative?).^145 In
contracts wherein one party comprises several persons, their unanimity
is expressed by the phrase “while they speak with one mouth.”^1463.2 Procedure
3.2.1 Malinine suggests that the case of P. Louvre 3228c was first
judged in a local court and only afterwards entered the “Great Qenbet
Court.” He believes that the entire case lasted more than four years.^147
The defendant having lost, the judges decided that the loser should
swear an oath along with seven other persons who had come before
the court, confirming that the disputed payment for the slave had
in fact been made, and to renounce any future raising of the issue
concerning the slave and the payment for the slave.^148 Such a pub-
lic disavowal of claim resembles the later Demotic acts of cession.^149(^141) Choachyte priests (involved in the funerary cult) appear frequently as parties
in contracts from the Theban area; see, e.g., Vleeming, “Sale of a Slave.. .,” 13;
Menu, “Cessions.. .,” 76; Donker van Heel, “Land Leases.. .,” 339.
(^142) Menu, “Cessions.. .,” 81.
(^143) Gardiner, “Gods of Thebes.. .,” 60–61, 66–67.
(^144) Menu, “Cessions.. .,” 75.
(^145) See Parker, Saite Oracle Papyrus.. ., 51; cf. Gardiner, “Gods of Thebes...,”
- A rw≈(“agent, representative”) appears in Vernus, “Inscriptions.. .,” 224–25.
(^146) Malinine, Choix.. ., 49.
(^147) Malinine, “Jugement.. .,” 175.
(^148) Ibid., 177.
(^149) Ibid., 178. See also Seidl, Ägyptische Rechtsgeschichte.. ., 24.
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