Legal document: T-S 12.482

Description

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Tuesday night, 22 Kislev 1435 Seleucid, which is 1123 CE. Contract in form of acknowledgement of a debt concerning the cancellation of a "sale" of a house which served as a mortgage. A certain David (l. 7) and his son (ll. 5, 21–22) bought a house from the husband (l. 10) of a certain woman named Jayyida (ll. 23, 27). The transaction was executed by David's son while David was away (probably on a business trip). The son and father invested unequal shares of 12 and 38 dinars respectively (ll. 21–22). When David returned, he was informed that the house he bought was "donated to the pious foundations" (ḥubisa) (l. 7), or more likely was confiscated by the government. Coming upon this information, he immediately reacted by requiring the cancellation (fasakh) (l. 11), of the purchase, and asked for their money back (l. 8). The course of arguments was long, during which the woman argued that they had fixed the time of remittance 2 years from the day the deal was agreed upon, and that the money was not available. to her at that time (ll. 8–9). David firmly insisted on the cancellation of that deal against a written acknowledgement by the woman (her husband was probably away), that the purchase sum of 66 dinars would be a debt upon her to be repaid after 2 years (ll. 10–12). These terms were agreeable to both sides (ll. 13–14, 16–18), and acknowledged by them. Since the deal between the two parties was off, a compromise (l. 24) was reached and as a gesture of good will, the buyers decided not to collect the "rent" which was the previously intended "hidden interest" (ll. 24-25), but the 50 dinars borrowed. (It is understandable that they were happy to get out of this deal, if not with a gain at least without a loss.) The signatures preserved are of Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel. Lines 19–25 are very important to our knowledge about the rate of interest charged in those days. David and his son, by that fictitious purchase, lent together the sum of 50 dinars, which was to yield in interest 16 dinars (ll. 21–22) over a period of 2 years (l. 12), i.e., 8 dinars a year or 16 per cent, which was a very high rate of interest." (Information from Gershon Weiss.) See also ENA NS 16.22 (PGPID 11712) and other documents listed there.