Legal document: T-S 12.156

Description

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (fl. 1100-1138 CE). Involving a complicated case of a house divided into shares. "What emerges from this fragment may be summarized as follows: Abū l-Surūr and his sister Nasab inherited 1/3 of a house from their late father in equal shares. 2/3 of this house had already belonged to Nasab. Abū l-Surūr claimed that his sister had taken possession of his share several years before and now he would like to receive what was due him. In a settlement, reached in a Muslim court and which was recorded in a document and testified to orally by Abu Saʿīd Ḥalfon and another witness, Nasab and her husband bought her brother's 1/6 for 35 dinars. It was agreed that 25 dinars would be paid at the end of three months, and for the remaining 10 dinars a written acknowledgement will be issued (1. 15). It seems that the buyers could not meet the obligation they took upon themselves, and after the intervention of elders seeking a peaceful settlement, 1t was agreed by the seller to defer the due date. No signatures are preserved." (Information from Weiss.)