Legal document: T-S 13J8.15

Description

Legal document. Partnership document. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1100 (per Goitein). This document, signed by Yitzhak b. Shemuʾel ha-Sefaradi, describes itself as a partnership document enacted between Abraham al-Mirjānī b. Moses and Mevorakh b. Eleazar, though details as to the partnership itself and the divison of profits and losses are missing from the preserved portion and much of the language is reminiscent of release documents. Each of the partners is given a copy of the document. The clauses here concerning soundness of mind are common in release documents as well. They also appear in both power of attorney and partnership agreements. While it is logical that soundness of mind would be required while releasing an erstwhile partner or while appointing an agent and releasing him from certain claims, it is odd that these clauses would appear when a new partnership relationship is formed. The soundness of mind clauses in the partnership release documents mirror those clauses seen in divorce or debt settlements, wills and release documents, suggesting that soundness of mind is required when one relinquishes a right. The document was written on Wednesday, 1 Sivan "in the year dated above" (which is not visible in the extant text) and signed the following day. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 234)