Legal document: T-S NS 320.22 + CUL Or.1080 J121

Legal document T-S NS 320.22 + CUL Or.1080 J121

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Description

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: 1108. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of the court clerk Hillel b. ʿEli. An agreement between Abū al-Faḍl Mevorakh b. Abraham Ibn Sabrī and Abū ‘Imrān Moshe b. Mordecai ha-Kohen for a yearlong partnership in a shop selling olives and food commodities. Mevorakh and Moshe invested 80 and 50 dinars, respectively. Moshe seems to be in charge of the shop, garnering two-thirds of the profit and being responsible for two-thirds of the losses. He must prepare a reckoning at the end of the year, without required notarization. However, if the partnership has decreased in value, there is to be a judgment between the partners. The partners are not allowed to quit the partnership before the end of the one-year period, after which they may either renew or terminate it. However, if they decide to terminate, Moshe has two months to return Mevorakh’s investment. Mevorakh, a Parnas, must have been involved in social welfare tasks. Moshe has much autonomy in the shop, taking on “trust in Heaven” that he will not defraud his partner in absentia. (Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 257)

CUL Or.1080 J121 1r

1r

Transcription

S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.
  1. שהדותא דהות באנפנא אנן שהדי דחתמות ידנא לתחתא [...........
  2. בשבה דהוא עשרין ושיתה יומי בירח סיון דשנת אלפא ואנרבע.....
  3. שנין לניינא דרגיליננא ביה בפסטאט מצרים דעל נילוס [
  4. כן הוה חצרא אלינא אלשיך אבו אלפצל מר מבורך הפרנס סגל[
  5. בר מר אברהם הידוע בן סברי נע ומר משה הכהן המכונה אבו ענמראן בר
  6. מר מרדכי הכהן סט וקאל לנא אשהדנו עליהא ואק]נו מנה מעכשנו
  7. ואכתמו עלינא בגמיע אלאלפאט [אלמ]חכמה ואל[מעאני אלמאכדה] ובכל לישאני
  8. דזכואתא וסלמו דלך אלי כל מנא ליכון בידנא [לליום וב]עדה חגה וותאק
  9. אננא מקראן ענדנכם] פי צחה מנא וגואז אמר [טאיעין] מן גיר קהר ולא
  10. גבר [ולא אכראה ולא ] סהו ולא גלט ולא עלה ב[נא פלא מר]ץ ולא גיר דלך מן
  11. גמיע מפנסדאת אלשהא]דה אננא קד א[סתכרנא אלכאלק] תעאלי דכרה
  12. ואשתרכנא [פי אלדכא]ן אלמרסומה ב[...........................] אלזיות וגיר
  13. דלך ואכרגת [אנא] משה הכה[ן מן] פצל אללה [תע]אלי מן מאלי כמסון דינאר
  14. דהבא עינא ואזנה מצריה [גיא]דא צחאחא ואכרג אלשיך אבו אלפצל
  15. מר מבורך הפרנס דנן מן פצל אללה תעאלי מן מאלה תמאנון [דני] דהבא
  16. עינא מתאקילא ואזנה מצריה גיא[דא] צחאחא וצא[רונ א]לגמלתאן
  17. בידי אנא משה הכהן אביע [................................................

Translation

Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture: Jewish Economic and Social Life Seen Through the Legal Documents of the Cairo Geniza" (PhD diss., Princeton University, 2007).

T-S NS 320.22

  1. Testimony which was given before us, we the undersigned witnesses […]
  2. of the week, which was the twenty-sixth day of the month of Sivan, of the year one thousand and f[our hundred …]
  3. years, according to the count to which we are accustomed, in Fusṭāṭ Egypt [situated] along the Nile [River.]
  4. Thus: the Elder Abū al-Faḍl Mr. Mevorakh the Parnas, Treasure of […]
  5. b. Mr. Abraham known as (I)bn Sabrī (who) r(ests in) E(den), and Mr. Moses Ha-Kohen, known as Abū ‘I[mrān b.]
  6. Mr. Mordecai ha-Kohen (may his) e(nd be) g(ood), appeared before us and said to us, “Testify [concerning us and perform] a qinyan with us from now o[n, write]
  7. and sign concerning us using all [the a]ppropriate legal formulae and the [expressions of certainty], and all the language
  8. of claims, and give that to each of us, in order that we would have proof and a legal document [from now] on
  9. that the two of us attest before [you] in our good health and the freedom of will, [willingly,] with neither duress nor
  10. force [nor compulsion, with neither] negligence nor error, with neither illness [of dis]ease [among us], nor any of the
  11. fa[ctors which invalidate testim]ony, that we have a[sked the Creator,] may His Name be exalted, (for guidance,)
  12. collaborating [in the] specified [sho]p in […..] olives and other
  13. things. I, Moses Ha-Cohe[n,] brought out from the goodness of Ex[alted] God, of my assets, fifty excellent and acceptable dinars
  14. of gold in specie, by the Fusṭāṭ standard weight; and the Elder Abū al-Faḍl
  15. this Mr. Mevorakh the Parnas brought out from the goodness of Exalted God, of his assets, eighty exce[llent] and acceptable gold [dinars]
  16. in specie, weighed by the Fusṭāṭ standard weight, and [th]e total came to (be held by)
  17. me; I, Moses ha-Kohen. I will sell […]

CUL Or.1080 J121

  1. […] in it, and I will buy in the aforementioned shop, for the period
  2. of a full year of successive months, beginning with the month of Tammuz of the year
  3. mentioned in the body of this document. At the end of this year, I will carry out my reckoning
  4. [in] what which the exalted Creator has facilitated in terms of profit. After subtracting all our capital, two thirds
  5. will be for me—I, Moses ha-Kohen; a third will be for the Elder Abū al-Faḍl, this Mr. Mevorakh the Parnas.
  6. Likewise, God forbid, if there would be the opposite of profit at that time. Then, if (continuation of) the balance of
  7. the partnership (shirka) as we were is desired, we will continue; and if termination is desired, (Mevorakh) will wait for
  8. the eighty din(ars) of his money—for a period of two months he has no statement (on which to rely), thereafter he may take it. I, Moses ha-Kohen, have already stipulated
  9. concerning the Elder Abū al-Faḍl, this Mr. Mevorakh the Parnas, that I am to be treated as two
  10. proper trustworthy witnesses in all that which I report in terms of profit. He has no right
  11. to an oath of any other sort—simple or grave—from me therein, even
  12. rider oaths; but if, God forbid, our capital lessens whatsoever, adjudication between him and me will take place
  13. in this matter and neither of us may separate from the partnership during this year. Rather, each
  14. [of us] has obligated his partner till the end of this year which is the duration of the partnership (shirka).
  15. […] Effective immediately, I, Moses ha-Kohen [have taken] upon myself trust in Heaven that
  16. […th]e matters for all of us, and I will not remain obligated
  17. […] all the profit which I received

CUL Or.1080 J121 1v

1v
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