ثيقة شرعيّة: ENA 4011.56

الوصف

Recto: Partnership agreement. Written and signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Dated: Tammuz 1436 Seleucid = June/July 1125 CE. Settlement of a dispute of two partners in a bakery concerning the repayment of depleted partnership capital. The creditor, Abū l-Riḍā ha-Shomer (the guard), loaned funds to the partnership as a corporation but not to the partners as individuals. Although the two partners contracted to work the same amount and to share profits and losses equally, the partnership lacks sufficient funds to repay the loan. Abū l-Riḍā asks the partners to demand the “oath of partners” each from the other, and himself demands that each pay half the loss, but one of the partners (Hiba) seems reluctant for unclear reasons. Pressured by Hiba's refusal to pay his share of the debt, the other partner (Mūsā b. Bishr, who appears also in ENA 4011.55) brings Hiba to court. The result of the court’s action was mediation (“tawassaṭū”), and Hiba agreed to pay Mūsā a single dinar, to which the latter would add the balance of three dinars. The initial loan amount and the repayment amount were both four dinars, and that it seems that Abū al-Riḍā did expect to garner profit from the loan directly. Signed by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 54–56.)