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7.2.1.1 Contractual Clauses^132
The essential elements of the sale contract were a statement of a
satisfactory price, a statement of transfer of the property, a state-
ment of the possession of the property by the new owner, an acknowl-
edgment of receipt of the money, a clause about the expulsion of
third parties, a guarantee of security against illegal claims, a clause
about all pertinent documents conveyed to the new owner, and an
oath promising execution of the contract by the vendor. The terms
of the clauses in cession documents considerably overlap with those
of sale documents. The essential difference in the wording comes at
the beginning, where the vendor states that he or she is “far” from
the buyer concerning the property being sold.7.2.1.2 The sale price is rarely mentioned in these texts, in contrast
to cursive hieratic sales, which suggests that the purpose of these
texts was not to record the actual sale but to document the legal
transfer of property from one party to another and to guarantee the
rights of the buyer.^133 In the case of real property, the location of
the plot was given relative to four other parties bordering the plot.7.2.1.3 The sale document masked many different types of trans-
action, from a real sale to a pledge or a testament. In a real sale
transaction in Middle Demotic (Ptolemaic), the title to property was
permanently and legally conveyed by a seller to a buyer, involved
the writing of two documents simultaneously, a s§(n) ≈b3 ̇≈ (lit.
“writing concerning money”) and a s§n wy(“writing of being far”).^134
In Early Demotic texts, a real sale transaction was effected by means
of a single instrument with clauses that functioned as acknowledg-
ment of sale and conveyance at once. There are examples in Early
and Middle Demotic sale texts of the entire notarial copy being
written out in full by some of the witnesses in multiple copies (a
“witness-copy” text). The contract had to be witnessed, which could
involve the witnesses copying out the notarial text verbatim, thus
confirming the words of the agreement.^135(^132) Zauzich, Ägyptische Schreibertradition.. ., 113–24, esp. 114; Menu, “Actes de vente...”
(^133) The normal clause of sale states that the vendor “is satisfied with the pur-
chase price” for the object of conveyance. For cursive hieratic sales and the
specification of a sale price, see Menu, “Actes de vente.. .,” 173.
(^134) The two texts could be written on the same sheet of papyrus, side by side,
or on separate sheets.
(^135) These “witness-copy” texts were more common in Early Demotic texts. The
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