Legal document: ENA NS 17.35

Description

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1007–55 (speculative). This document records a partnership agreement between Manṣūr b. Yisraʾel ha-Levi and Mas‘ūd b. Mevorakh, who placed 200 gold pieces and 10 gold pieces, respectively, in a common purse. It is unclear whether both parties, or just Mas‘ūd, engaged in active trading, though line 19 and the fact that they were both active in trading suggests an unlimited partnership between them. Profits are to be split equally despite the fact that one of the partners has provided over 95% of the partnership capital, a division that violates the Ḥanafī mufāwaḍa model (see Udovitch 1970, p.48). The full date is not preserved, only the month and the first two digits of the year. The signatures suggest that the document may date from the period of Efrayim b. Shemarya, 1007–55. Signatories: Avraham b. Ghālib, Moshe b. David ha-Levi, ‘Ezrōn b. [?] ha-Kohen, and Ḥusayn Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 78)