Scholarship on Legal document: CUL Add.3416

[Date and place.]

Mr. David b. Mr. Joseph—may he rest in Eden!—sued Mr. Joseph b. Mr. David

of the Lebdiyya family {alt. tr.: known as Ibn al-Lebdiyya}, after David’s attorneyship had been established in court, for the gift made to Sheikh Abū

Zikrī Mr. Judah, the Chosen of the Yeshiva, b. Mr. Moses—may he rest in Eden!—by our lord and master

Moses, son of his honor, our lord and master Labrāṭ, the Head of the House of the Masters {alt tr.: rabbis}—may he rest in Eden!—namely fifteen

units of corals, ten of the shākh (‘branches’) kind and five diqq (‘chips’).

When asked about this, Mr. Joseph said: “Concerning what he claimed, I do not know anything

whatsoever.” Then Mr. David, the attorney, produced evidence, namely that

persons present in court said that when the letter of our lord and master Moses, the judge, had been read to him,

the (president of) the court asked him: “What do you have to say about this?” Mr. Joseph then replied:

“Mr. Moses, the judge, sent with me scraps of coral chips in order

to sell them in Alexandria and (= or) Fustat. When I did not sell them,

I took them with me to Nahrwāra, sold them there and bought

for them three flasks of musk, which I sold in Alexandria for

13 ½ dinars.” When he said to him: “Will you deliver these 13 ½ dinars

to his (the judge’s) uncle?,” he replied: “I have learned that the judge took from Daʾūd (David), the Tripolitanian Kohen,

what I had asked some of my relatives in Tripoli to send me, which they did,

but which arrived in al-Mahdiyya after my departure, namely, a sum of 10

Murābiṭī dinars. Moreover, I had deposited silversmith tools belonging to my brother with the judge.

When my brother arrived in al-Mahdiyya and asked the judge to return them to him, he told him: “These are my collateral for

10 dinars.” He took from him 10 (al-Mahdiyya) dinars, but informed him that the tools

had been taken when Raqqat al-Mahdiyya was ransacked, and only a hammer remained, which he delivered

to him. Said the Court to him: “If this report turns out to be false, will you still withhold from

the judge what belongs to him? You had better buy him goods for that sum and let him have

the profit to be derived from it.” He (Lebdi) replied: “I am prepared to do this and shall take the goods with me, for I am

traveling there.” When the Court remarked to him: “The (Ibn Sughmār’s) attorney might not be pleased,

if the goods were in your hands,” he replied: “I am prepared to do this with [alt. tr.: to have them in the hands of] a third party,

and if the judge has got what belongs to him, the goods plus profit will be mine,

otherwise they will be his.

The proceedings have been written down, etc.

Abraham b. Jacob—may his soul dwell in bliss!—Derʾī. \\Hillel b. Eli.//

Solomon ha-Kohen b. R. Joseph, ‘Father’ (of the Yeshiva)—may the memory of the righteous be blessed.