Legal document: T-S 16.87 + ENA NS 18.22

Legal document T-S 16.87 + ENA NS 18.22

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In PGP since 2017

Description

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: March 1097. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment seems to be the continuation a document, the beginning of which is TS 16.87 (PGPID 4094). In the section preserved here, Abū al-Faraj Nathaniel b. Moses and his brother Abū al-Barakāt Aaron release Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver from obligations in a long-distance trading partnership which had taken their father, apparently the active partner, to Tripoli or Lebanon. The release clauses absolve Samuel from any further obligation in either “a partnership (shirka)” or “a commenda (muḍāraba)”. Although this fragment cannot be seamlessly joined to TS 16.87, that both documents are concerned with the partnership suggests that they go together. This evidence is strengthened by the fact that TS 16.87 is dated to the twenty-first of Adar in the year 1097, which was a Sunday; this could have been three days before the "Wednesday the twenty-fourth" mentioned in line 23 of this document as the delayed date of execution. While most of the bulk of the document is written by Hillel b. Eli (also a signatory), the notarization is written in different handwriting and attests to the fact that the undersigned witnesses recognized the signatures of the initial witnesses. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 81-82)

T-S 16.87 1r

1r

Transcription

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).

ENA NS 18.22 1

1

Recto

  1. […] all that […]
  2. [… from] now on, since no (claim) r[emains for me with him]
  3. [nor in his possession nor on his behalf, any claim whatsoever, nor any matter whatsoever, neither a dirham nor a dinar, n]either gold nor silver, [neither]
  4. [jewelry nor silk, neither cop]per nor tin nor lead, neither merchandise nor an item of trade, neither a partnership (shirka) nor a commenda (muḍāraba), neither clothing
  5. […] nor a deposit which we have deposited for someone else nor a deposit which someone else deposited for us, neither an account nor the remainder of an account
  6. [neither capital] nor a remainder, neither profit nor loss, neither a legal document in Jewish law nor a document in gentile law
  7. [… no]r any other thing which one could possess or utilize under the Heavens, whether small or great,
  8. [magnificent or lowly, from the value of a farthing or more, neither] a debt nor a judgment nor nor a dispute nor an account nor an (oral) statement (of debt), nor debate nor controversy nor acquittal nor complaint nor quarrel nor
  9. [a claim nor a challenge nor an oa]th nor a rider oath nor a pronouncement, even ḥerem setam. He is hereby free from all types of oaths, and behold, he is completely
  10. [free and completely released, both with] oral testament and in (our) heart(s), in this world and in the world to come. We have forgiven him effective immediately any negligence or error or omission or settlement which proceeded between him and between […]
  11. [… from the be]ginning of time until now— //that of which we are aware and that of which we are not aware, that which has been revealed to us and that which has not been revealed to us, being what it is and reaching what it has reached.// We wrote this document in order that it would be in his hand in his lifetime and in the hand of his heirs after his death, well-ordered, proper, end[uring and durable]
  12. upon which any court anywhere would rely, upon us and upon our heirs after us. That which he has obtained or his heirs after him may have obtained from anyone in the four corners of the ear[th …]
  13. brother or sister, near or distant, Jew or Aramean, those who consume our property and license our creditors, who pay our debts, who pay and rule and claim and appeal to the Elder, this Abū al-[Baqā]
  14. … upon his heirs after him, I—Nathaniel—and I—Aaron—will pay in our lifetimes and our heirs after our deaths. We forgive and release them and release and deliver and save […]
  15. upon them, and we established this release before them. We will pay all provisions and losses in which it obligates them. Any document in any language which would exclude something or would [nullify]
  16. this document is hereby nullified effective immediately before you and considered as a potsherd in the marketplace, without substance. And every court which would rely upon it (as a legal source), they may not rule from [them.]

T-S 16.87 1v

1v

ENA NS 18.22 2

2
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  • ENA NS 18.22: Images provided by the Jewish Theological Seminary Library (JTSL) CC-Zero / Public Domain
  • T-S 16.87: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Zooming image © Cambridge University Library, All rights reserved. This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.