Scholarship on Legal document: ENA NS 50.32

Recto

1. [Recor]d of witness testimony which took place before us—we, the witnesses who have sealed our testimony below in this document—that (his) hon(or and) ho[liness]
2. M(r.) master Eleazar the Elder, called Manṣūr, Head of the Congregations, b. Menahem of the town of //Aleppo// said to us, “Gentlemen, b[e]
3. witnesses on my behalf and perform a qinyan with me, a complete and weighty qinyan, effective immediately; write and sign on my behalf using all the language of claims. Give (it)
4. to Mr. Hillel the Elder b. Mr. Abraham known as (I)bn …Wāqa’ in order that there would be in his hand a title of right and proof after today. I [am not under]
5. duress nor am I (in) error, nor have I gone astray, nor am I ill, nor am I forced (to do this), rather in the fullness of my mind and desire and knowledge, I declare
6. before you in a complete and definitive declaration, a declaration made in good health, not as a deathbed declaration, in truth and righteousness,
7. with an open heart and mouth, I declare before you that I have given to this Mr. Hillel four cubits of my land which to which I have a permanent claim
8. and coupled thereto I have assigned him control, appointing him, assigning him and making him an agent and representative to claim from any person at all,
9. among them (his) hon(or and) hol(iness) Mr. Tamīm b. Isaac, known as (I)bn al-‘Amm, for all that which the deceased Ṭibān b. the Maḥūẓ al-Qummī
10. left in Aleppo, to which Mulūk bt. Neḥuma b. Wahab, who is the wife of Mr. Joseph the Scri[be b. Manasseh]
11. known as (I)bn al-‘Anī, who is the (woman) who authorized me, had claim; and she wrote for me on her own (behalf) this agency collection document and authorized me to appoint
12. in my place an(other) agent to claim this legacy, giving me power to adjudicate his claim in any court
13. that he wishes, and to extract this legacy, and to take it for himself, to cause (others) to swear and to contract, to arbitrate
14. and to indemnify, to announce and to specify, and to respond. Everything which he does is done, as I have given him my hand, and I have placed him
15. in my place, and his words (are considered as) my words, and his demands (are considered as) my demands, and his claims (are considered as) my claims; and everything he does is done, and he accepts upon himself everything
16. imposed by the court. I am unable to go back and say, “(I retained you) to fulfill my (agency) and not to subvert it.”
17. Rather, everything he does is done. Responsibility for th[is] agency collection document is as [a decree of] the Sages, (may their) m(emory be) f(or a blessing)] for it is not [like promises]
18. and not like formularies, but rather (bears) the weight and force of all established legal agency collection documents which the Sages decreed
19. and [which] are generally [employed] from this day forward. We, the witnesses, performed a qinyan with an item sui[table for doing so, with our teacher and] master
20. Eleazar, called Manṣūr, Head of the Congregations, b. Menaḥem, and with Mr. Hillel b. Abr[aham, concerning] everything written
21. [and] specifi[ed above, as a ti]tle of right and proof after today. Written on Tuesda[y] the twenty-fifth day
22. of the mo[nth of Marḥeshvan of the year one th]ousand three hundred and sixty t[w]o, (of the Era) of Documents which we ordinarily
23. employ in Fusṭāṭ Egypt, which is situated on the Nile River. Proper and enduring.