Scholarship on Legal document: Halper 359

Recto, ʿalāma

1. Praise be to God, and he is sufficient to me; may his enviers perish.
2. Entrusted to him [?] is the poor one, ʿAbd al-Raḥman alAḳṣarāyī the Ḥanbalī,
3. entrusted with rendering justice in Damietta and its district.

Recto, main text

1. In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. Trust [in God] [?].

2. In the law court at the Musallamiyya madrasa in the port of Damietta the well-protected, before our master, the poor slave in need of God the exalted, the shaykh, the most evident imam,

3. the knowledgeable, the erudite, the ornament of religion, the glory of the ʿulamāʾ, unique among the favoured, the indisputable mufti, Abī Hurayra ʿAbd al-Raḥman

4. al-Aḳṣarāyī the Ḥanbalī, the great deputy judge in the aforementioned port, may God the exalted support his judgements and favour him with probity.

5. The two full brothers Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al-ʿIzz, sons of the late Badr al-Dīn, [also] known as Budayr, son of the late al-Shihābī

6. Aḥmad, [also] known as Bīghos (Bey) al-Ḥaramī, their grandfather, in Ghayd al-Naṣāra in the aforementioned port, and Muʿallim Joseph the son of Muʿallim Abraham Castro,

7. the current ʿāmil of the aforementioned port, who is trusted by the two of them, reached a legal agreement while in a state of health, well-being, free will, and choice, that that to which

8. the aforementioned Muʿallim Joseph is entitled—that is owed by Abī al-Baqāʾ and Abī al-ʿIzz, mentioned above, of [?]...the legal tax farm

9. to their aforementioned father Budayr, or to their aforementioned grandfather Aḥmad Bīghos, of legal debts prior to this date and from enterprises among them—

10. totals, in large Ottoman silver coins current in Egypt now, 1000 niṣf [fiḍḍa] and 500 niṣf legal liability,

11. by legal means, by way of exigible debt. Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al-ʿIzz, mentioned above, and they are the first party in what is to be mentioned,

12. and the aforementioned Muʿallim Joseph, and he is by himself the second party to the legal settlement, acknowledged in a legal acknowledgement that neither party

13. is entitled to [anything] or has any right to [anything] from the other after this. The aforementioned Muʿallim Joseph added to his acknowledgement that he was not

14. entitled, on his own behalf or that of his father the aforementioned Abraham, [to anything more] from the first party or from the debt of the aforementioned Budayr or the debt of his father

15. Aḥmad Bīghos or any of their heirs, [no] right, no entitlement, no claim, no demand in any manner or [for any] reason,

16. not in silver, gold, or copper, not by seizure or confiscation, not by account or by an error in one, not in ignorance or

17. forgetfulness or absentmindedness, not through debt or in cash, not by testament, not by borrowing, not through coercion, no claim to this,

18. nothing at all, a little or much, great or humble, blameworthy or trustworthy, directly or through an agent [?], fixed

19. or mobile, of whatever type or kind or description, not in valuables and not by liability, not by swearing

20. by God the exalted, nothing, not a little nor much, from previous times to the present day, except for what was owed to the aforementioned Joseph by Abī al-Baqāʾ

21. and Abī al-ʿIzz, mentioned above, and that is the amount agreed to above and the items of pledge that will be enumerated on the right of the verso,

22. which he pledged today to his heirs on that basis. Each party released the debt, hand, and pledge of the other

23. for all the valuables, liabilities, claims, demands, and obligatory oaths—a legal, definitive, firm, final release,

24. ...overriding all rights, claims, and oaths before this date and until this date, except for those named above. Each of the two parties accepted.

Recto, right margin

1. This is the interpretation [?] of the other party, a legal acceptance with their acknowledgement of [all] this before the [lit. 'its'] witnesses and their agreement to the legal agreement. When this was completed with their testimony, as explained above, and it was certified
2. before our lord the ..., the ..., the master, mentioned above—those mentioned above testifying for themselves according to what is attributed to them above in the text and language above, in a legal certification of attested testimony, a sound, legal certification—
3. he ruled, may God the exalted support his judgements and favour him, according to the testimony of each of them—a sound, legal, complete, considered, satisfactory, responsible ruling
4. on that [matter], fulfilling the written and claimed conditions and obligations of the sharīʿa, cognisant of the [potential for a] contradictory [ruling] on it. He bore witness his noble self to this on the 10th of Rabīʿ I 945 [6 August 1538] 

Recto, witnesses' signatures, right

1. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ḥālūlī [?] ...
2. bore witness to that for them.

Recto, witnesses' signatures, middle

1. The one who relies on //God//
2. the exalted, ʿAbd al-Raḥman
3. al-Aḳṣarayī
4. al-Ḥanbalī

Recto, witnesses' signatures, left

1. Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlam al-Dīn
2. bore witness to that for them.

Verso, left,ʿalāma

1. Praise to God ... until his Day of Judgement.

Verso, left, main text

1. Praise be to God.

2. In the law court referenced on the recto,

3. Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al-ʿIzz, mentioned on the recto, pledged to the possession of Muʿallim Joseph,

4. mentioned on the recto, by way of security for the amount mentioned on the recto and for every part of it until

5. the time of its legal repayment, that which is in their hands and in their possession, and the two of them testified to this with their acknowledgement

6. before the [lit., ‘its’] witnesses, namely, the entire share whose quantity is the half and the quarter,

7. 18 full shares of the entirety of the boat that customarily sails in the lakes of

8. Tinnīs, which is described [as follows:]—its height from its base is eleven cubits,

9. made fast with ropes [?], with a tiller with a rudder [?], caulked [?] at the hull. A portion of the aforementioned share [consists]

10. of its equipment, namely, a mast to which are attached a ballast of sea water and a lamp and sails [?]

11. and pieces/units of bolts [?] and //rigging [?]// and an anchor made of nail-iron and four oars in ...

12. and four punting-poles and a quadrant [?] and a compass [?] on which are [inscribed] the [cardinal] directions and the surroundings

13. and the wind currents, known to them by legal knowledge—a sound, legal, accepted, received pledge,

14. delivered with permission, customary,

15. for benefit from it through the transfer of authority over the aforementioned pledge according to his [the judge’s] ruling on it,

16. with their acknowledgement of that before the [lit., ‘its’] witnesses and their turning it over to him [Joseph]. When this was completed

17. with their testimony, as explained above, and there was certified before our lord the humble slave

18. to God the exalted, the shaykh, the imam, the know- ledgeable, the erudite, the majesty of religion,

19. glory of the ʿulamāʾ, unique among the favoured, the indisputable mufti, Abī al-Baqāʾ Muḥammad al-Dumyāṭī

20. al-Shāfīʿī, the noble deputy judge in the port mentioned on the recto, may God the exalted support his judgements

21. and favour him—those mentioned above testifying for themselves according to what is attributed to them above

22. in the text and language above, the certification according to attested testimony—

23. he ruled, may God the exalted support his judgements and favour him, according to

24. the testimony of each of them—a sound, legal,

25. complete, considered, satisfactory, responsible ruling, fulfilling the written and claimed conditions

26. of the sharīʿa, cognisant of the [potential for a] contradictory [ruling] on it. He bore witness

27. his noble self to this on the date on the recto after the passing of what was specified on the recto.

 

Verso, witnesses, right

1. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ḥālūlī [?] ...
2. bore witness.

Verso, witnesses, middle

1. The one who relies on //God//
2. the exalted ʿAbd al-Raḥman
3. al-Aḳṣarayī
4. al-Ḥanbalī

Verso, witnesses, left

1. Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlam al-Dīn
2. bore witness to that for them.

Verso, upper right (filing note)

1. Attestation to the sons of Budayr

2. [ib]n Bīghos of [the claim] against them on

3. the part of the customs of [i.e., headed by] Muʿ[allim] Abraha[m],

4. may his Rock protect and revitalise him, [on] the tenth of Rabīʿ al-

5. Awwal in the year 145 [?], the [amo]unt

6. ... 1,500

Verso, right

1. Praise to God, the lord of the universe.

2. In the law court in the Musallamiyya Madrasa in the port of Damietta

3. the well-protected in justice, Muʿallim Joseph,

4. mentioned on the recto, acknowledged before the [lit., ‘its’]

   witnesses, that the amount named on the recto,

5. whose total, in the silver coins described on the recto, is

   1,000 niṣf [fiḍḍa]

6. and 500 niṣfs, belongs to his father, the aforementioned

   Abraham,

7. rather than to him [i.e., Joseph] or anyone else, as he acknowledged to the [lit., ‘its’] witnesses.

8. Muʿallim Yaʿqūb [i]bn Yūsuf the Rabbanite Jew, the scribe

   of the dīwān in the port,

9. and the legal agent on behalf of Abraham Castro, mentioned on the recto, purchased with the money of his aforementioned employer [lit., the one who made him agent] from the aforementioned two young men [?]

10. mentioned on the recto, namely, Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al- ʿIzz, mentioned on the recto, undertaking

11. the sale, to be mentioned in it [the record], on their own behalf and on behalf of the other [?] heirs of their father, mentioned on the recto:

12. the two of them sold it to his [Yaʿqūb’s] employer, the aforementioned Abraham, that which was in their possession and in the possession of their father’s heirs and theirs [the heirs’] to dispose of,

13. with the acknowledgement of the two of them before the [lit., ‘its’] witnesses, and it [i.e., what is in their possession] is all of the share amounting to the half and the quarter, 18

14. complete shares of the entirety of the boat that customarily sails in the lakes of Tinnīs and vicinity,

15. with its equipment, specified on the left, known to them by legal knowledge ... a legal purchase

16. for a price whose total is in the transaction completed in

    large Ottoman silver pieces: 1,000 niṣf [fiḍḍa] and 100 niṣfs

17. and sixty-five niṣfs in current cash. A release of liability was

    granted from him, a legal release by the legal path

18. by the necessity of a legal agreement regarding what the aforementioned Abraham Castro is entitled to from the two aforementioned brothers,

19. sons of Badr al-Dīn, named on the recto, the legal agreement in the legal path, and that is by legal agreement

20. that occurred between them in this, by offer and receipt and legal delivery. The entire aforementioned

21. boat and its equipment came to be shared between the aforementioned Abraham and Sulaymān [i]bn Abī al-Ḥasan

22. al-Jarbalī the boatman, specifically, as explained in it [the document], that which belongs to the aforementioned Abraham from

23. the share specified above, and that which belongs to the aforementioned Sulaymān, a share amounting to one quarter of the boat and its equipment,

24. specified on the left. The aforementioned Muʿallim Yaʿqūb acknowledged his release of the two aforementioned brothers on behalf of his aforementioned employer [i.e., Abraham],

25. from the remainder of the amount named on the recto, the legal release by the legal path, a release of legal taking possession and receiving payment,

26. legally, and nothing remained to him [Abraham] of that, not a little and not much. Then the aforementioned Yaʿqūb acknowledged, and he by himself

27. is the first party in what will be mentioned in it [the acknowledgement], and the aforementioned two brothers, and they are the second party in the legal acknowledge- ment,

28. that neither of the two parties deserves or is entitled to [anything] from the other party. The aforementioned Yaʿqūb added, in

29. his acknowledgement, that his aforementioned employer [i.e., Abraham] has no claim against Budayr and his father, [no] right, no entitlement,

30. no claim, no demand in any manner or [for any] reason, not in silver, gold, or copper,

31. not by seizure or confiscation, not by account or by an error in one, not in ignorance or forgetfulness, not

32. in absentmindedness, not by coercion or claim to it, not in valuables and not by liability, not by swearing by God the exalted,

33. nothing, not a little nor much, from previous times to the present day. He [Yaʿqūb] enjoined Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al-ʿIzz, mentioned

34. above, in their possessions and in their money, that if a legal claimant should sue Yaʿqūb or his aforementioned employer [i.e., Abraham]

35. for any financial right pertaining to the share mentioned above, and if this should be proven against both of them or against either one of them with a legal proof,

36. and if he [the hypothetical claimant] should compel him [Yaʿqūb or Abraham] to pay, and he paid, then it was incumbent on both of them to repay him [Yaʿqūb or Abraham] all that he had paid, no matter the amount—a legal enjoining,

37. accepted with their acknowledgement of this before the [lit., ‘its’] witnesses and their agreement upon the legal agreement.

38. Our lord [?, i.e., the judge] bore witness to the granting of power of attorney in the ... and the judgement on it was on the second of the month of Jumādā [al-]Awwal

39. of the year 945 [26 September 1538].

Verso, right column, witnesses, right

1. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Ḥālūlī [?] ...
2. bore witness to that for them.

Verso, right column, witnesses, middle

1. Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlam al-Dīn
2. bore witness.

Verso, right column, witnesses, left

1. Muḥammad ibn ...
2. bore witness to them [?].