SURVEY OF L I T E R A T U R E 1952—1953 385 The t e x t of the Solonie laws is not yet authenticated b y means of a direct transcription f r o m the Greek original, b u t it is reprinted verbatim f r o m the copy of a work used b y Gaius in which because of the manuscript tradition the Greek t e x t seriously departed f r o m the original. The author of the work used b y Gaius had before his eyes a Hellenistic t e x t of the Solonie laws, which (without the p a r t s of t h e laws not connected with the discussed matter) was suitable for the explanation of the actio finium regundorum. This should be proved by an extensive analysis of the P a p . Halensis.
J . R a b i n o v i t z , The Legal Papyrus from 'Auja el-Hafir (reprint f r o m the Israel Exploration Society, vol. X V I I , 3—4, 1953). This papyrus published b y M. S c h w a b e , does not represent a manumission-document b u t one releasing a boy who h a d been delivered b y his f a t h e r as a pledge of a loan. The essential formula in the document under discussion is contained in 1.8, in which the b o y is granted " a u t h o r i t y over himself". This formula contains legal Aramaism. The occurence of an Aramaic legal t e r m in the formula which seems to be Greek in origin is striking. However as had already been noted b y К о s с h а к е г, the Greek formula closely resembles one found in a Babylonian document f r o m the times of the f i r s t dynasty. A formula in all respects similar to t h a t of the Babylonian document occurs in Mishna, Gittin I X , 9.
The " f r e e d o m of m o v e m e n t " granted to the boy, a feature which is common to this document and to m a n y of the Delphic inscrip-tions also has close parallels in ancient Semitic sources. The legal terminology of release f r o m the marital tie is similar to t h a t of release f r o m paramone. I t m a y well be t h a t the origin of the legal institutions of paramone is to be sought in Babylonia. The ex-pression " t o stand before someone" used in the Babylonian docu-ments, occurs a n u m b e r of times in the Bible in the sense of serving, "waiting u p o n " , and is strongly reminiscent of the Greek παραμενειν, the primary meaning of which is " s t a y beside" or "near, s t a n d b y " .
O B L I G A T I O N S
J . Ρ i r e η η e, Les contrats de vente de soi-même en Egypte à Vêpo-que saïte (Académie royale de BelgiVêpo-que, Bull, de la Classe des Lettres et des Sciences Morales et Politiques, 5e série, tome X X X I Y, 1948).
386 JOURNAL OF PAPYROLOGY
In this dissertation the author analyses two contracts of self-sale, one from the years 663—609 B.C., the second from the years 569— 525 B.C., written in the Demotic language. The comparison of these contracts with the contract of self-sale in PSI 549 is very instruc-tive (cf. my Law, I, 52).
F r a n c e s c o d e R o b e r t i s , Receptum nautarum (Studio sulla responsabilità delVarmatore in diritto romano, con riferimento alia disciplina particolare concernente il caupo e lo stabularius), Uni-versité di Bari, Annali delia Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, 1952. In this dissertation the author touches also upon the Greco-Egyptian law (cf. my Law, I, 287). According to his opinion the responsibility of the nautae was limited in the Greco-Egyptian 1ам7 only to the επιμέλεια, if nauta did not take expressly the respon-sibility for periculum.
M a r i o T a l a m a n c a , L'arra della compravendita in diritto greco в in diritto romano, Milano 1953.
This dissertation brings no news as far the conception of pactum arrale and the material compiled by the author are concerned. What is new is only the incredible arrogance which the author, a beginner, shows in his, as a rule, entirely unfounded polemics against other authors.
S. S o l a z z i , La definizione delVarmatore in Dig. 14, I, I, 15 e la locazione perpetua della nave (Rivista del diritto alia naviga-zione, 9—14 [1943—1948]).
This dissertation deserves attention because it contains a bri-lliant exposition of the P. Lond. I l l , p. 154, No 1164 h, B.G.U. 1157 and Oxy. XVII, 2213 (cf. my Law, I, 204).
S. v. В о 11 a, Pacht (R.E. 18, 4).
This survey shawing profound knowledge of the matter deals also with leases of land, leases of taxes, subleases and colonia par-tiaria.
W. T i l l , Die koptische Stipulationsklausel (Orientalia 19, [1950], 81—87).
The author suggests, that in the Coptic documents two different clauses of stipulation occur: the older one corresponds to the
