SURVEY OF THE PAPYRI AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS CHIEFLY FROM 1951 TILL 1952
B A B Y L O N I A N L E G A L D O C U M E N T S M a r i a n o S a n - N i c o l ö , Babylonische Rechtsurkunden des
ausgehenden 8 und des 7 Jhd. v. Chr. (Abli. Bayr. Ak. d. Wiss. phil.-hist. Kl. N. F. Heft 34, 1951).
When I comment upon this collection of Babylonian legal do-cuments in this magazine, it happens so on account of many ana-logies with the Greco-Egyptian papyri which these documents show.
№ 1 (707—6 B. C.) is a deed of adoption where the adoptive father assumes not only the duty to bring up the child but also of bequeathing to him his estate. The contract reminds of P. M e y e r, Jur. Pap. № 10 (335 A. D.) = Oxy 1206 and Lips. 28 = M. Chr. 363 (IV cent. A. D.) cf. my art. Sav. Z. 49, 119. — № 2 (610—9 B. C.) is a deed of partition between the sons cf. on similar con-tracts in the papyri my Law I, 165. — № 3 (721/20 — 711/10 B. C.) is a sale of a building lot cf. about ψιλοί τόποι in the papyri R o s s i , Aeg. 30 (1951) p. 49 ff and the ed. p. 7 note 1. — № 4 (677—76 B. C.), in a sale of a building-site is mentioned a mûsû, literary an „outlet" (exit) farther „a passage, a corridor" — those narrow lanes and roads of private property which serve not only to help the communication between the neighbourly lots, not sur-rounded with walls — but furnish also an access to a public high-road (cf. as for the pap. my art. Arch, f Pap. VIII, p. 253). — № 7 (600 B. C.) deals with a sale of a share of a site of 50 hinds. As the editor remarks this reminds of the 50 hinds lots of land in the pa-pyri. -— № 10 (660—59 B. C.) is a purchase from heirs or from anot-her community. In spite of the plurality of the sellers, tanot-here appears only one person as the acting party. This reminds entirely of a heirs-community in the Egyptian national law (cf. S e t h e - P a r t s c h , Äg. Bürgschaftsrecht p. 687 ff.) — In № 21 (648 В. С.) there is a case where the purchaser bought a lot of land on behalf of a third person but paid out the price of his own revenues; hence the property of
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t h e lot of l a n d devolves on t h e m a n d a t o r n o t only till t h e n t h e m a n -d a t o r gives b a c k t h e price t o t h e b u y e r (cf. f o r t h e sale b y p r o x y in G r e c o - E g y p t i a n law m y Law I 233, 245). — I n № 26 ( V I I c e n t . B. C.) we h a v e a case in which a p p e a r s beside t h e p a r t i e s in t h e sale a t h i r d p e r s o n for w h o m t h e price h a s t o be covered (cf. a b o u t contractus in favorem tertii in the p a p y r i , m y Law I 303). I n v . 4 t h e „ e n l i g h t m e n t of t h e f a c e " is m e n t i o n e d . P e r h a p s it is connected as S a n N i c o l ö supposes w i t h a n act of establishing t h e a t t a c h -m e n t t o a social class p r o b a b l y in connection w i t h t h e f i r s t e-mploy- employ-m e n t of a c e r t a i n style of hair-dress t o employ-m a r k t h e close of childhood (cf. on t h e f i r s t - h a i r - c u t t i n g in t h e p a p y r i μελλοκουρ ία m y Law I 1116 β). — № 31 (611—10 B. C.) c o n t a i n s p e r h a p s a datio in solutum in f o r m of a sale (cf. for t h e G r e c o - E g y p t i a n law m y Law I, 321). — T h e sale u p o n o a t h in № 32 (605—604 B. C.) r e m i n d s of similar sales in t h e G r e c o E g y p t i a n law (cf. S e i d l , Eid 90). — T h e p r o -mise of r e t u r n t h e price in t h e case of eviction in № 35 (666—65 B . C.) f i n d s its a n a l o g y i n G r e c o - E g y p t i a n law (cf. B e r g e r , Straf-klauseln 127, 137, 158). — F o r t h e giving in pledge of t h e son in № 53 (651 — 50 B. C.) see m y Law I 104. — F o r t h e mutua fideius-sio in № 55 (652—51 B . C.) a n d № 60 (628—27 B . C.) see m y Law I , 231-—2. F o r t h e obligatio omnium bonorum in № 64 (625—24 B. C.?) a n d № 71 (619—18 B . C.) cf. m y Law I 212. F o r t h e p r o m i s s o r y n o t e w i t h an antichresis on a p p a r t m e n t s in № 80 (628—27 B. C.) cf. m y Law I, 218. — F o r t h e bail s u r e t y for a t t e n d a n c e in court in № 82 (616—15 B. C.) cf. m y Law I 385. — On t h e locatio-con-ductio operis w i t h r e g a r d t o t h e t e m p l e g u a r d d u t y in № 83 (618—17 B. C.) cf. m y Law 284—5. — F i n a l l y t h e r e a d e r m y be referred t o t h e ordeals in № 84 (654—53 B. C.) a n d № 85 (652—51 B. C.). G B E E K P A P Y R I F R O M T H E P T O L E M A I C P E R I O D T . R e c k m a n s — Ε . V a n ' t D a c k , A Bodleian Archive on Corn-Transport (Chronique d ' E g y p t e № 53, 1952 p . 148—195). T h e d o c u m e n t s of this archive d a t e f r o m 163 B . C. a n d deal with t h e river t r a n s p o r t of g r a i n t o t h e t h e s a u r o s a t Syene, προς τα μετρή-ματα των επί των τόπων στρατιωτών. T h e archive brings n e w d a t a on t h e s t a t e t r a n s p o r t of grain b y w a t e r . I t can be s u m m a r i z e d in f o u r p o i n t s : T h e sitologos w h o dispatches t h e w h e a t s e n t a certi-f i c a t e ocerti-f s h i p m e n t t o t h e consignee ocerti-f t h e cargo, t h e sitologos ocerti-f
