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- Ancient Near East, Contract Law, Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Roman law, ancient legal history, ancient history, documentary papyri, Latin legal documents, Old Babylonian period, Legal History: Ancient Near East, and 58 moreEstate Planning, Law, Financial Services, History. Cuneiform Studies. Mesopotamia. Hittitology. Ancient Near East. Historiography. Religion. Literature. Political Science., Ancient near eastern law, Philosophy Of Law, Law and Society, Mythology, Ancient Near East (Archaeology), 1st Millennium BC (Archaeology), Social and Political Theories of Justice & Human Rights, Gender and the Law, History of Human Rights, Anthropology of Law, Melinda Zeder, International Law and the Indigenous Peoples, Ancient Egyptian Law, Ancient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages, Early Law System; Law and Politcs, Mesopotamian History, Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Legal History, Legal Pluralism, Comparative Law, Akkadian and Sumerian literature, The Built Landscape, Manifestations of Authority and Power, Gender In the Ancient Near East, Neo Assyrians, Northern Mesopotamia, Merchants and Merchant Colonies, Ancient Political Thought, Raymond Westbrook, Ancient Legal Systems, Ancient Legal History, Memes, Memetics, Memes, Memetics, Memetics (Evolutionary Biology), Transmission of Cultural Tradition Via Memes, Richard Dawkins, Legal Theory, Women in the ancient world, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Nippur, Assyrian and Babylonian archives and libraries, Mesopotamian Law, Sassanian law; Babylonian Talmud; legal terminology, Late Babylonian Law, Biblical and Neo Babylonian Law, Neo-Babylonian Law, Ancient Near Eastern International Law, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law, SUCCESSION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATE LAW, Ancient Egyptian Religion, Deceased estates, Succession Law, Classics, Roman Law, European Legal History, Imperial Rome, and Republican Romeedit
- Lifelong interest in law studies (practical and theoretical), ancient law, cultures and languages. Special academic i... moreLifelong interest in law studies (practical and theoretical), ancient law, cultures and languages. Special academic interests: Old Babylonian legal traditions, especially inheritance law and contractsedit
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... Abstract Information. The so-called "Mesopotamian law codes". What's in a name? Journal Title: Journal for Semitics; Volume: Volume 19; Issue: Issue 2; Publication Date: 2010; Pages: 481 - 498; Authors: SJ Claassens;... more
... Abstract Information. The so-called "Mesopotamian law codes". What's in a name? Journal Title: Journal for Semitics; Volume: Volume 19; Issue: Issue 2; Publication Date: 2010; Pages: 481 - 498; Authors: SJ Claassens; ISSN: 10138471; ...
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This article provides insights into the legal and social contexts surrounding inheritance divisions in both Old Babylonian and South African cultures. It proposes an innovative approach to the division of inheritance in South Africa that... more
This article provides insights into the legal and social contexts surrounding inheritance divisions in both Old Babylonian and South African cultures. It proposes an innovative approach to the division of inheritance in South Africa that is in line with the country's constitutional values and diverse cultural heritage. In order to compare the inheritance divisions, the study identifies the shared characteristics between Old Babylonian and South African practices. These inheritance divisions often involve disagreements and complexities among heirs, which may result in negotiations and the reorganisation of inheritances through mechanisms like sale, donation or exchange. By highlighting these commonalities the article sheds light on the differences and similarities in the legal and social contexts in which these divisions occur. While the South African approach has been influenced by Roman-Dutch legal scholars, incorporating the adaptable legal practices of the Old Babylonian tradition could introduce further innovation and adaptability to the South African inheritance division process.
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Although at first glance it might seem that §108–111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) are not a unified corpus, this article shows that §108–111 is a unified corpus containing a main denominator – the king/state’s intervention and control... more
Although at first glance it might seem that §108–111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) are not a unified corpus, this article shows that §108–111 is a unified corpus containing a main denominator – the king/state’s intervention and control of the female sābītu’s business venture in her capacity as either an entrepreneur or a state agent. In all four paragraphs, we encounter sub-denominators, i.e., (1) the sābītu, holding a leading or supplementary position together with (2) the sābītu’s business place or her house, and (3) the sābītu’s business activities. Then, although only §108–110 entail dramatic executions, §111 is still part of the unified corpus for it serves as a transitional phrase to the preceding corpus. Overall the different scenarios in the unified corpus of §108–111 illustrate King Hammurabi’s idealistic ambition for centralisation and control, especially with regards to the female sābītu’s business venture, thus engrossing the reader in different case studies within a certain grouping.
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Present–day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadi?tu, describing them as priestesses who served as sacred prostitutes (Astour 1966), and/or living as virgin–celibate devotees of god(s), comparable with present–day... more
Present–day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadi?tu, describing them as priestesses who served as sacred prostitutes (Astour 1966), and/or living as virgin–celibate devotees of god(s), comparable with present–day nuns (Launderville 2010; Stol 1999; 1995), and/or acting as secluded priestesses outside the normal boundaries of patriarchal control (Diakonoff 1986). However, scholars such as Harris and Stone rather focus on their economic and social roles in the family and in the institutions of the city–states: see Harris (1975, etc.) on the nadi?tu from Sippar, and Stone (1982) on the nadi?tu from Nippur. The origins of these two scholars? textual sources differ, although their studies still show that the nadi?tu institutions were not a homogeneous group. In this study, I contend that three nadi?tu groups possess a variety of attributes, depending on the type of group and social–economic circumstances in Old Babylonian Nippur and Sippar institutions, as well as on the intentions of the paterfamilias and male family members. In addition, the nad?tu?s religious role did not include living a virgin–celibate life such as that of a present–day nun, and these priestesses have erroneously been classified as sacred prostitutes (Roth 1999). Rather, the nad?tu institution?s raison d être was to serve as an advantage to her family and society. When allowed to do so, the nad?tu could by her wit and labour accumulate property securing to an extent some financial independence. Still, her financial independence from the patriarchal household was limited and in some instances prohibited in the interplay among the different OB institutions.http://journals.co.za/content/semlang/41/2/EJC183922http://journals.co.za.nwulib.nwu.ac.za/content/semlang/41/2http://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC18392
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Abstract A redistribution agreement is one of the available methods to assist the executor in winding up a deceased estate. It may be used to overcome impractical situations and/or statutory limitations that might occur during the estate... more
Abstract
A redistribution agreement is one of the available methods to assist the executor in winding up a deceased estate. It may be used to overcome impractical situations and/or statutory limitations that might occur during the estate administration process. The heirs and legatees and, in some instances, a surviving spouse may then agree to the reshuffling of their inheritance awards. The Chief Registrar of Deeds issued a directive that places a burden on the Master of the High Court in approving the "acceptance" of the agreement as part of the registration application for the transfer of immovable inheritance property. This was in response to a legal opinion from the office of the Chief State Law Advisor, incorporated in a 2010 internal Master's directive on instruction of the Chief Master. It directed that a redistribution agreement is deemed enforceable only after the Master "duly examined and approved" its legality. However, the Master's practice of approving a redistribution agreement is not a rule of law and cannot supersede the provisions of a statute. This article investigates whether the Master, as a "creature of statute", is acting within the parameters of its statutory administrative acts and functions involving a redistribution agreement.
Keywords
Master of the High Court; redistribution agreement; deceased estate; executor; Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965; Registrar of Deeds; deceased estate administration; acceptance certificate; administration method; liquidation method; inheritance.
A redistribution agreement is one of the available methods to assist the executor in winding up a deceased estate. It may be used to overcome impractical situations and/or statutory limitations that might occur during the estate administration process. The heirs and legatees and, in some instances, a surviving spouse may then agree to the reshuffling of their inheritance awards. The Chief Registrar of Deeds issued a directive that places a burden on the Master of the High Court in approving the "acceptance" of the agreement as part of the registration application for the transfer of immovable inheritance property. This was in response to a legal opinion from the office of the Chief State Law Advisor, incorporated in a 2010 internal Master's directive on instruction of the Chief Master. It directed that a redistribution agreement is deemed enforceable only after the Master "duly examined and approved" its legality. However, the Master's practice of approving a redistribution agreement is not a rule of law and cannot supersede the provisions of a statute. This article investigates whether the Master, as a "creature of statute", is acting within the parameters of its statutory administrative acts and functions involving a redistribution agreement.
Keywords
Master of the High Court; redistribution agreement; deceased estate; executor; Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965; Registrar of Deeds; deceased estate administration; acceptance certificate; administration method; liquidation method; inheritance.
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An Old Babylonian (OB) adoption agreement created an artificial family bond with reciprocal benefits and obligations by creating fictitious ties between the adoptee and the adoptive family. However, our interpretation of the OB adoption... more
An Old Babylonian (OB) adoption agreement created an artificial family bond with reciprocal benefits and obligations by creating fictitious ties between the adoptee and the adoptive family. However, our interpretation of the OB adoption is limited to the scribe’s adaptation of the oral adoption agreement in an abridged record. Typology, as a method, can simplify the study of Old Babylonian adoptions gleaned directly or indirectly from the recorded adaptation of the adoption agreement. I present a typology that is a hybrid of Hilprecht’s (1909, 32), Stone’s (1991, 3–6) and Obermark’s (1992, 29, 39–41ff.) typologies. My typology underpins the identification of the requisites distinguishing an adoption as such, in highlighting the adoption’s characteristics, including its ultimate purpose. It also provides an outline of the majority arrangements and supplementary reciprocal obligations and/or benefits that can be reflected in a written abridged format—custom-made by the involved family...
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In Old Babylonian Nippur, inheritance divisions and adoptions were distinctive and customary agreements. Sometimes the involved parties obtained the services of a scribe to conceptualise the orally agreed arrangements into a recording. A... more
In Old Babylonian Nippur, inheritance divisions and adoptions were distinctive and customary agreements. Sometimes the involved parties obtained the services of a scribe to conceptualise the orally agreed arrangements into a recording. A recording was drafted from a template that was learned during a scribe’s scribal school education. Reading the scribal construction through the lens of OB Nippur’s customary and distinct agreements, a case study from the so-called Ur-Pabilsa?a Archive seems to mirror a complex agreement. The scribe ingeniously merged and adapted two templates, an inheritance division and ana aplutim adoption, in one abridged recording. I have proposed that the case study represented a sui generis adoption-inheritance division wherein the adoptive parties reinstated their artificially created family relationship due to their unique arrangements in the redistribution of their initial inheritance awards. Instead of an inheritance division that would have established so...
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LH 110 is part of the ancient Near Eastern scholarly debate regarding the function and role of the nadiātu-priestess groups in Old Babylonian society. Seemingly, LH 110 forbids the uncloistered nadītu from opening up or entering a... more
LH 110 is part of the ancient Near Eastern scholarly debate regarding the function and role of the nadiātu-priestess groups in Old Babylonian society. Seemingly, LH 110 forbids the uncloistered nadītu from opening up or entering a business place associated with the sābītu; the penalty for such a crime is public execution by burning. Mainstream scholars view the nadiātu through the lens of either (a) indulging in illicit behaviour or (b) that LH 110 reflects a prohibition for the nadītu to compromise her chastity. In contrast, Martha Roth (1999) opines that LH 110 is an economic regulation of the nadītu, prohibiting her from overshadowing the money-lending business of the sābītu. However, what poses a problem is the horrific penalty, which seems to suggest and be justification for a seemingly terrible crime committed in concealment. I propose that when this prohibition is transgressed, a horrific crime is committed – tax evasion – which is a furtive crime that endangers the continuou...
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Today, the clay tablets chiselled by Old Babylonian scribes from the city-state of Sippar are our only evidence of the legal conventions from oral agreements between family members in the division of their inheritance. But why would the... more
Today, the clay tablets chiselled by Old Babylonian scribes from the city-state of Sippar are our only evidence of the legal conventions from oral agreements between family members in the division of their inheritance. But why would the Old Babylonians, a predominantly oral culture, go to the expense of hiring a scribe? On face value, it seems understandable that the recording of the division of the inheritance was for the sake of standardisation, legibility and simplification (Yoffee 1991). However, there is more to it. In this paper, I present Dawkins’ meme theory (1976) and assert that the legal conventions of division agreements and scribal school practices in Old Babylonian Sippar are a “meme complex”, a group of memes that co-adapt in order to ensure their own replication (Blackmore 1999, Dawkins 1976, Dennett 1991). The question still remains: why do these memes survive? I propose that the structures of the filters of such memes — driven by simplicity — are standardisation, c...
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Research Interests:
Present-day terms such as the usufruct – in civil law systems – and its equivalent, the life-right – in common law systems – were foreign to ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right –... more
Present-day terms such as the usufruct – in civil law systems – and its equivalent, the life-right – in common law systems – were foreign to ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right – direct the “time-limited interest†of the use and enjoyment by a person over the property of another. However, mainstream ancient Near Eastern scholars’ unqualified use of the foreign terms – diverged in time and space – affect the translation and our insight into ancient texts. In addition, differences in land ownership institutions and philosophies in present-day law systems and those of ANE contribute to variances in the meaning and interpretation of the intrinsic aspects of property and as such “time-limited interest†applicable: a usufruct, life-right or even a hybrid form of both. In the article, I focus on the maintenance – a time-limited interest – of the nadītu priestess in the Old Babylonian city-state of Nippur. The app...
Research Interests: History, Reference, Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Cuneiform, and 3 moreNippur, Usufruct, and Priestesses
Generally, the family members conclude a division agreement of their inheritance received from a parental deceased estate to escape the perils of their shared inheritance by dividing it into portions of unburdened sole ownership. However,... more
Generally, the family members conclude a division agreement of their inheritance received from a parental deceased estate to escape the perils of their shared inheritance by dividing it into portions of unburdened sole ownership. However, in some Old Babylonian Sippar division agreements, the family members devised and agreed to burden an elected inheritance property with a sui generis usufruct. This entails that they contractually agreed to share or appropriate to a family member the responsibility to manage the burdened property and use of its proceeds, for the maintenance and support of their priestess-sister. Only in the event of the priestess-sister's death is the burdened property restored from the restraints of the usufruct. In the article, I have applied my developed analysis method to the study of three Old Babylonian Sippar division agreements which consist of a usufruct-clause. First, I outline the prerequisite elements of the analysis method, which identify the three...
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A redistribution agreement is one of the available methods to assist the executor in winding up a deceased estate. It may be used to overcome impractical situations and/or statutory limitations that might occur during the estate... more
A redistribution agreement is one of the available methods to assist the executor in winding up a deceased estate. It may be used to overcome impractical situations and/or statutory limitations that might occur during the estate administration process. The heirs and legatees and, in some instances, a surviving spouse may then agree to the reshuffling of their inheritance awards. The Chief Registrar of Deeds issued a directive that places a burden on the Master of the High Court in approving the "acceptance" of the agreement as part of the registration application for the transfer of immovable inheritance property. This was in response to a legal opinion from the office of the Chief State Law Advisor, incorporated in a 2010 internal Master's directive on instruction of the Chief Master. It directed that a redistribution agreement is deemed enforceable only after the Master "duly examined and approved" its legality. However, the Master's practice of approving a redistribution agreement is not a rule of law and cannot supersede the provisions of a statute. This article investigates whether the Master, as a "creature of statute", is acting within the parameters of its statutory administrative acts and functions involving a redistribution agreement.
Research Interests:
In Old Babylonian Nippur, the family division agreement from a deceased estate is an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole ownership by re-allocating and trading their rights to the inherited deceased estate assets.... more
In Old Babylonian Nippur, the family division agreement from a deceased estate is an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole ownership by re-allocating and trading their rights to the inherited deceased estate assets. This article is concerned with some of the unique solutions found in the Nippur division agreement where deceased estate assets are divided meticulously into equal portions of sole ownership. Special attention is given to the in-na-an-bur-clause balancing the value of each deceased estate asset awarded to a beneficiary as a quid pro quo in conjunction with the rule of preference-portion of the eldest brother (gisbansur zag-gu-la sib-ta mu-nam-ses-gal-se) and casting of lots (gissub-ba-ta in-ba-es).
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The study of an inheritance division is usually limited by its isolated recording, which leads to an incomplete interpretation of the division’s influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved. Inheritance... more
The study of an inheritance division is usually limited by its isolated recording, which leads to an incomplete interpretation of the division’s influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved. Inheritance divisions found in the so-called Ur-Pabilsaĝa Archive from Old Babylonian Nippur not only enable inclusive interpretations of the divisions’ influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved but also reveal their social and financial networking with two other families. The influence of Nippur’s interrelated social institutions restricted the family members in securing beneficial allocations of their inheritances due to conflicting needs and the consequences of economic disparity. Consequently, family feuds developed. The circumstances and events described in the recordings undermined the advantages that could have been gained from the social and financial networking between the interconnected families.
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At first glance, the division and allocation of ownership portrayed in the book of Joshua and the legal corpora of Old Babylonia seem to be a general division with shared features. A class of co-owners agree to, or the original owner... more
At first glance, the division and allocation of ownership portrayed in the book of Joshua and the legal corpora of Old Babylonia seem to be a general division with shared features. A class of co-owners agree to, or the original owner consents to, the division and allocation of shared property and may apply two of an array of elective practices, i.e., lot-casting and firstborn share. My focus shifts away from such a general classification. I will show that at least two types of divisions—the tribal division from Yahweh in the book of Joshua, and the family division from the estate of a deceased owner in Old Babylonia—do not exhibit a shared standardised pattern. Each division has its own requisites, a distinct raison d’être, and even the elective lot-casting and firstborn share practices hold different functions in the two types of divisions.
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In his 1888 article, Pinches translated – with limited information regarding Akkadian and Sumerian grammar and structure – an Old Babylonian division agreement text, which he considered a sale of land, mentioning that the text “presents... more
In his 1888 article, Pinches translated – with limited information regarding Akkadian and Sumerian grammar and structure – an Old Babylonian division agreement text, which he considered a sale of land, mentioning that the text “presents some very interesting features”. A new translation of this division agreement text is here presented. It is shown that this text is not a sales agreement, but a unique arrangement of a division agreement between family beneficiaries in a deceased estate. The contractual parties record their division agreement wherein they agree to award certain communally-shared fields to their sister as the sole owner. The remainder of the communally-shared property is awarded to the brothers who will then manage co-ownership of their agreed, awarded communally-shared portions. These and other aspects of the new translation are studied by means of my analysis method: by first identifying the prerequisite elements (essential elements), followed by an outline of legal practices (natural elements). Cognisance is taken of the scribal traditions regarding the written formalities and qualities of appearance of the text (incidental elements).
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The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the... more
The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the contractual parties’ particular oral agreement and the scribe’s idiosyncratic inclusion of some of the detail of the oral agreement. A specific methodology is devised in order to analyse the content of the family deceased division agreements.Thus the aim and purpose of this content analysis methodology is to simplify the analysis of old Babylonian division agreements. In this article, special attention is accorded to the creation of a methodology, termed the analysis model, for the analysis and study of the content of family deceased division agreements. Within this framework, firstly the obligatory essential elements of a family deceased division agreement are identified and then other aspects and elements of the agreement are identified and studied in different groups, named the natural and incidental elements, to reflect new perspectives on the division agreement’s meaning, purpose and spirit in ancient Babylonian urban life.
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Online Journal Abstract Information - Sabinet Online.
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The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement are... more
The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement are not fully understood by today’s scholars. This article offers some reflection on this specific agreement: the family division agreement in a deceased estate as a complex legal notion. In the article special attention is paid to what this agreement entails by explaining its practical and theoretical mechanisms. Reasons are given for categorising this agreement as a family division agreement deriving from a deceased estate in contrast with other types of division agreements from different estates. For practical reasons the different evolutionary stages in an estate are outlined. In relation to the theoretical mechanisms of the agreement, the relevance and meaning of recordings on objects in ancient Mesopotamia are discussed, with special reference to old Babylonian division agreements. In essence this agreement, as used in ancient Babylonian life, serves as a successful, timeless, estate administration mechanism and tool, to obviate any undesirable consequences of co-ownership of bequeathed property in the old Babylonian city-states.
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ABSTRACT It is a collective human endeavor, when studying something, to give the subject or object a name and therefore consciously and/or unconsciously attach a specific meaning to it. The generic classification of the so-called... more
ABSTRACT It is a collective human endeavor, when studying something, to give the subject or object a name and therefore consciously and/or unconsciously attach a specific meaning to it. The generic classification of the so-called cuneiform collections of Mesopotamia as “law codes” encompasses a certainmeaning, which may obscure and confuse the recent debate concerningwhether these collections are an authentic source of Mesopotamian lawtraditions regarding which different theories had already developed. Thecuneiform collections of ancient Mesopotamia are not a singular body of authoritative law but consist of different meanings extended over long periods with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. The majority of scholars persist in the idea, established by Scheil, of naming thecuneiform collections a codex or law code, and of interpreting thesecuneiform collections as a codex or law code in today’s context andmeaning. Until new interpretations of cuneiform texts and artefactsregarding daily and legal activities have been completed, which can provethat these cuneiform collections are an authentic legal source and a codex interms of today’s meaning, the interpretation of the collections on the legal issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts and artefacts, and the branding of the cuneiform collections as a codex reconsidered.
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The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement are... more
The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement are not fully understood by today’s scholars. This article offers some reflection on this specific agreement: the family division agreement in a deceased estate as a complex legal notion. In the article special attention is paid to what this agreement entails by explaining its practical and theoretical mechanisms. Reasons are given for categorising this agreement as a family division agreement deriving from a deceased estate in contrast with other types of division agreements from different estates. For practical reasons the different evolutionary stages in an estate are outlined. In relation to the theoretical mechanisms of the agreement, the relevance and meaning of recordings on objects in ancient Mesopotamia are discussed, with special reference to ...
Research Interests: Law and Legal History
The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex. Furthermore, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the... more
The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex. Furthermore, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the contractual parties’ particular oral agreement and the scribe’s idiosyncratic style of including some of the detail of the orally-consensual terms of the agreement. A specific methodology is devised to manage a content analysis of the family deceased division agreements. Hence, the aim and purpose of the content analysis methodology is to simplify the analysis of old Babylonian division agreements. In this article, special attention is accorded to a methodology-design for the content analysis and study of family deceased division agreements, coined the analysis-model. Within this framework the obligatory essential elements of a family deceased division agreement are firstly identified; and thereafter other aspects and elements of the agreement are categorise...
Research Interests: Law and Legal History
Research Interests:
In Old Babylonian Nippur, inheritance divisions and adoptions were distinctive and customary agreements. Sometimes the involved parties obtained the services of a scribe to conceptualise the orally agreed arrangements into a recording. A... more
In Old Babylonian Nippur, inheritance divisions and adoptions were distinctive and customary agreements. Sometimes the involved parties obtained the services of a scribe to conceptualise the orally agreed arrangements into a recording. A recording was drafted from a template that was learned during a scribe's scribal school education. Reading the scribal construction through the lens of OB Nippur's customary and distinct agreements, a case study from the so-called Ur-Pabilsaĝa Archive seems to mirror a complex agreement. The scribe ingeniously merged and adapted two templates, an inheritance division and ana aplutim adoption, in one abridged recording. I have proposed that the case study represented a sui generis adoption-inheritance division wherein the adoptive parties reinstated their artificially created family relationship due to their unique arrangements in the redistribution of their initial inheritance awards. Instead of an inheritance division that would have established sole ownership, they agreed that each held a proportionate co-ownership in the awarded properties. For the remainder of their lives, neither one could alienate an award, and either could be the ultimate owner of the adoptive family estate with the demise of the other.
Research Interests:
An Old Babylonian (OB) adoption agreement created an artificial family bond with reciprocal benefits and obligations by creating fictitious ties between the adoptee and the adoptive family. However, our interpretation of the OB adoption... more
An Old Babylonian (OB) adoption agreement created an artificial family bond with reciprocal benefits and obligations by creating fictitious ties between the adoptee and the adoptive family. However, our interpretation of the OB adoption is limited to the scribe’s adaptation of the oral adoption agreement in an abridged record. Typology, as a method, can simplify the study of Old Babylonian adoptions gleaned directly or indirectly from the recorded adaptation of the adoption agreement. I present a typology that is a hybrid of Hilprecht’s (1909, 32), Stone’s (1991, 3–6) and Obermark’s (1992, 29, 39–41ff.) typologies. My typology underpins the identification of the requisites distinguishing an adoption as such, in highlighting the adoption’s characteristics, including its ultimate purpose. It also provides an outline of the majority arrangements and supplementary reciprocal obligations and/or benefits that can be reflected in a written abridged format—custom-made by the involved family members to suit their circumstances, obligations and needs.
Research Interests:
The study of an inheritance division is usually limited by its isolated recording, which leads to an incomplete interpretation of the division’s influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved. Inheritance... more
The study of an inheritance division is usually limited by its isolated recording, which leads to an incomplete interpretation of the division’s influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved. Inheritance divisions found in the so-called Ur-Pabilsaĝa Archive from Old Babylonian Nippur not only enable inclusive interpretations of the divisions’ influence on the status and/or financial position of the family members involved but also reveal their social and financial networking with two other families. The influence of Nippur’s interrelated social institutions restricted the family members in securing beneficial allocations of their inheritances due to conflicting needs and the consequences of economic disparity. Consequently, family feuds developed. The circumstances and events described in the recordings undermined the advantages that could have been gained from the
social and financial networking between the interconnected families.
social and financial networking between the interconnected families.
Research Interests:
At first glance, the division and allocation of ownership portrayed in the book of Joshua and the legal corpora of Old Babylonia seem to be a general division with shared features. A class of co-owners agree to, or the original owner... more
At first glance, the division and allocation of ownership portrayed in the book of Joshua and the legal corpora of Old Babylonia seem to be a general division with shared features. A class of co-owners agree to, or the original owner consents to, the division and allocation of shared property and may apply two of an array of elective practices, i.e., lot-casting and firstborn share. My focus shifts away from such a general classification. I will show that at least two types of divisions—the tribal division from Yahweh in the book of Joshua, and the family division from the estate of a deceased owner in Old Babylonia—do not exhibit a shared standardised pattern. Each division has its own requisites, a distinct raison d'être, and even the elective lot-casting and firstborn share practices hold different functions in the two types of divisions.
Research Interests:
I investigate the raison d'ȇtre of an irregular clause in two inheritance divisions from Old Babylonia Tell Harmal. The free rendering of the clause reads that if a family member to the division transgresses with a claim, a certain... more
I investigate the raison d'ȇtre of an irregular clause in two inheritance divisions from Old Babylonia Tell Harmal. The free rendering of the clause reads that if a family member to the division transgresses with a claim, a certain monetary reward – measured in units of silver – needs to be paid. Is the payment clause a precautionary measure ensuring adherence to the execution of the division's terms; similar to the payment clause in sales and adoptions? Or does the clause serve another function? I show that the choices of the involved family members within their family relationship, as deduced from the recorded ipsissima verba of each division, dictate the unique raison d’ȇtre of the payment clause in the division. I argue that within the framework
of maintaining family relationships, the payment clause serves as a possible future division in securing compensation, compliance and protection for the involved family members’ interests.
of maintaining family relationships, the payment clause serves as a possible future division in securing compensation, compliance and protection for the involved family members’ interests.
Research Interests:
Today, the clay tablets chiselled by Old Babylonian scribes from the city-state of Sippar are our only evidence of the legal conventions from oral agreements between family members in the division of their inheritance. But why would the... more
Today, the clay tablets chiselled by Old Babylonian scribes from the city-state of Sippar are our only evidence of the legal conventions from oral agreements between family members in the division of their inheritance. But why would the Old Babylonians, a predominantly oral culture, go to the expense of hiring a scribe? On face value, it seems understandable that the recording of the division of the inheritance was for the sake of standardisation, legibility and simplification (Yoffee 1991). However, there is more to it. In this paper, I present Dawkins' meme theory (1976) and assert that the legal conventions of division agreements and scribal school practices in Old Babylonian Sippar are a " meme complex " , a group of memes that co-adapt in order to ensure their own replication (Blackmore 1999, Dawkins 1976, Dennett 1991). The question still remains: why do these memes survive? I propose that the structures of the filters of such memes — driven by simplicity — are standardisation, certainty and legibility. They promote the memes in their evolutionary algorithm of variation, selection and retention. Thus, the recording of the oral division agreement is merely a record designed to protect and carry on the division agreement's scribal school practices and, to a lesser degree, its legal conventions.
Research Interests:
Although at frst glance it might seem that §108–111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) are not a unifed corpus, this article shows that §108–111 is a unifed corpus containing a main denominator – the king/state’s intervention and control of... more
Although at frst glance it might seem that §108–111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) are not a unifed corpus, this article shows that §108–111 is a unifed corpus containing a main denominator – the king/state’s intervention and control of the female sābītu’s business venture in her capacity as either an entrepreneur or a state agent. In all four paragraphs, we encounter sub-denominators, i.e., (1) the sābītu, holding a leading or supplementary position together with (2) the sābītu’s business place or her house, and (3) the sābītu’s business activities. Then, although only §108–110 entail dramatic executions, §111 is still part of the unifed corpus for it serves as a transitional phrase to the preceding corpus. Overall the different scenarios in the unifed corpus of §108–111 illustrate King Hammurabi’s idealistic ambition for centralisation and control, especially with regards to the female sābītu’s business venture, thus engrossing the reader in different case studies within a certain grouping
Research Interests: Ancient Near East, Old Babylonian period, Women and Gender Studies, Ancient Law, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, and 2 moreBiblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law and The Code of Hammurabi
Present-day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadiātu, describing them as priestesses who served as sacred prostitutes (Astour 1966), and/or living as virgin-celibate devotees of god(s), comparable with present-day... more
Present-day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadiātu, describing them as priestesses who served as sacred prostitutes (Astour 1966), and/or living as virgin-celibate devotees of god(s), comparable with present-day nuns (Launderville 2010; Stol 1999; 1995), and/or acting as secluded priestesses outside the normal boundaries of patriarchal control (Diakonoff 1986). However, scholars such as Harris and Stone rather focus on their economic and social roles in the family and in the institutions of the city-states: see Harris (1975, etc.) on the nadiātu from Sippar, and Stone (1982) on the nadiātu from Nippur. The origins of these two scholars‟ textual sources differ, although their studies still show that the nadiātu institutions were not a homogeneous group. In this study, I contend that three nadiātu groups possess a variety of attributes, depending on the type of group and social-economic circumstances in Old Babylonian Nippur and Sippar institutions, as well as on the intentions of the paterfamilias and male family members. In addition, the nadītu‟s religious role did not include living a virgin-celibate life such as that of a present-day nun, and these priestesses have erroneously been classified as sacred prostitutes (Roth 1999). Rather, the nadītu institution‟s raison d‘être was to serve as an advantage to her family and society. When allowed to do so, the nadītu could by her wit and labour accumulate property securing to an extent some financial independence. Still, her financial independence from the patriarchal household was limited and in some instances prohibited in the interplay among the different OB institutions.
Research Interests:
LH 110 is part of the ancient Near Eastern scholarly debate regarding the function and role of the nadiātu-priestess groups in Old Babylonian society. Seemingly, LH 110 forbids the uncloistered nadītu from opening up or entering a... more
LH 110 is part of the ancient Near Eastern scholarly debate regarding the function and role of the nadiātu-priestess groups in Old Babylonian society. Seemingly, LH 110 forbids the uncloistered nadītu from opening up or entering a business place associated with the sābītu; the penalty for such a crime is public execution by burning. Mainstream scholars view the nadiātu through the lens of either (a) indulging in illicit behaviour or (b) that LH 110 reflects a prohibition for the nadītu to compromise her chastity. In contrast, Martha Roth (1999) opines that LH 110 is an economic regulation of the nadītu, prohibiting her from overshadowing the money-lending business of the sābītu. However, what poses a problem is the horrific penalty, which seems to suggest and be justification for a seemingly terrible crime committed in concealment. I propose that when this prohibition is transgressed, a horrific crime is committed – tax evasion – which is a furtive crime that endangers the continuous welfare of the king/state. LH 110 is a fiscal regulation protecting the state/king’s revenues. The intention is to prevent a specific group of the nadiātu – an uncloistered priestess – to enter or open an enterprise, which the OB state administration is unable to regulate. Consequently, the nadītu could effortlessly conceal her yielded profits and thus evade paying tax to the king/state.
Research Interests:
Present-day terms such as the usufruct – in civil law systems – and its equivalent, the life-right – in common law systems – were foreign to ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right – direct the... more
Present-day terms such as the usufruct – in civil law systems – and its equivalent, the life-right – in common law systems – were foreign to ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right – direct the “time-limited interest” of the use and enjoyment by a person over the property of another. However, mainstream ancient Near Eastern scholars’ unqualified use of the foreign terms – diverged in time and space – affect the translation and our insight into ancient texts. In addition, differences in land ownership institutions and philosophies in present-day law systems and those of ANE contribute to variances in the meaning and interpretation of the intrinsic aspects of property and as such “time-limited interest” applicable: a usufruct, life-right or even a hybrid form of both. In the article, I focus on the maintenance – a time-limited interest – of the nadītu priestess in the Old Babylonian city-state of Nippur. The application of Stone’s theory on Nippur’s land ownership – the institutions’ economy – prima facie shows that the nadiātu of Nippur held a freestanding life-right, rather than a usufruct which the majority of ANE scholars assigned to the nadiātu’s maintenance. However, I propose a deviation with the superficial overlay of present-day terms on the maintenance of the nadiātu by presenting a time-limited interest framework. The framework serves as a delineation method of identifying the characteristics of the maintenance-construction of the nadiātu from OB Nippur: communicating a “unitary concept” in context of the ancient texts – rather than only assigning coined terms – taking recognition of the influences of Nippur’s land ownership philosophy.
Research Interests: Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Cuneiform, Nippur, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, and 3 moreAncient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages, Usufruct, and Priestesses
Generally, the family members conclude a division agreement of their inheritance received from a parental deceased estate to escape the perils of their shared inheritance by dividing it into portions of unburdened sole ownership. However,... more
Generally, the family members conclude a division agreement of their inheritance received from a parental deceased estate to escape the perils of their shared inheritance by dividing it into portions of unburdened sole ownership. However, in some Old Babylonian Sippar division agreements, the family members devised and agreed to burden an elected inheritance property with a sui generis usufruct. This entails that they contractually agreed to share or appropriate to a family member the responsibility to manage the burdened property and use of its proceeds, for the maintenance and support of their priestess-sister. Only in the event of the priestess-sister’s death is the burdened property restored from the restraints of the usufruct. In the article, I have applied my developed analysis method to the study of three Old Babylonian Sippar division agreements which consist of a usufruct-clause. First, I outline the prerequisite elements of the analysis method, which identify the three texts as a family division agreement from a deceased estate. Then follows a discussion of the legal practices found in the three texts of which the usufruct as a chosen legal practice receives special attention. The aim of the article is to show that family members can decide to utilise the sui generis usufruct in the division agreement for the maintenance and support of their priestess-sister, imposing on themselves lifelong personal and financial consequences, while ensuring that the family retain their property on the death of the priestess-sister.
Research Interests: Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Old Babylonian Sippar, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, Ancient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages, and Priestess Classes
In his 1888 article, Pinches translated – with limited information regarding Akkadian and Sumerian grammar and structure – an Old Babylonian division agreement text, which he considered a sale of land, mentioning that the text “presents... more
In his 1888 article, Pinches translated – with limited information regarding Akkadian and Sumerian grammar and structure – an Old Babylonian division agreement text, which he considered a sale of land, mentioning that the text “presents some very interesting features”. A new translation of this division agreement text is here presented. It is shown that this text is not a sales agreement, but a unique arrangement of a division agreement between family beneficiaries in a deceased estate. The contractual parties record their division agreement wherein they agree to award certain communally-shared fields to their sister as the sole owner. The remainder of the communally-shared property is awarded to the brothers who will then manage co-ownership of their agreed, awarded communally-shared portions. These and other aspects of the new translation are studied by means of my analysis method: by first identifying the prerequisite elements (essential elements), followed by an outline of legal practices (natural elements). Cognisance is taken of the scribal traditions regarding the written formalities and qualities of appearance of the text (incidental elements).
Research Interests:
In Old Babylonian Nippur, the family division agreement from a deceased estate is an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole ownership by re-allocating and trading their rights to the inherited deceased estate assets.... more
In Old Babylonian Nippur, the family division agreement from a deceased estate is an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole ownership by re-allocating and trading their rights to the inherited deceased estate assets. This article is concerned with some of the unique solutions found in the Nippur division agreement where deceased estate assets are divided meticulously into equal portions of sole ownership. Special attention is given to the in-na-an-búr-clause balancing the value of each deceased estate asset awarded to a beneficiary as a quid pro quo in conjunction with the rule of preference-portion of the eldest brother (gišbanšur zag-gú-lá síb-ta mu-nam-šeš-gal-šè) and casting of lots (giššub-ba-ta in-ba-eš).
Research Interests: Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Cuneiform, Nippur, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, and Ancient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages
The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the... more
The recorded family division agreement in a deceased estate encompasses a variety of
components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex
ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the contractual parties’
particular oral agreement and the scribe’s idiosyncratic inclusion of some of the detail
of the oral agreement. A specific methodology is devised in order to analyse the content
of the family deceased division agreements.Thus the aim and purpose of this content
analysis methodology is to simplify the analysis of old Babylonian division agreements.
In this article, special attention is accorded to the creation of a methodology, termed the
analysis model, for the analysis and study of the content of family deceased division
agreements. Within this framework, firstly the obligatory essential elements of a family
deceased division agreement are identified and then other aspects and elements of the
agreement are identified and studied in different groups, named the natural and incidental
elements, to reflect new perspectives on the division agreement’s meaning, purpose and
spirit in ancient Babylonian urban life.
components, mechanisms and details ranging from elementary to lengthy and complex
ones. Moreover, the agreement is drafted in accordance with the contractual parties’
particular oral agreement and the scribe’s idiosyncratic inclusion of some of the detail
of the oral agreement. A specific methodology is devised in order to analyse the content
of the family deceased division agreements.Thus the aim and purpose of this content
analysis methodology is to simplify the analysis of old Babylonian division agreements.
In this article, special attention is accorded to the creation of a methodology, termed the
analysis model, for the analysis and study of the content of family deceased division
agreements. Within this framework, firstly the obligatory essential elements of a family
deceased division agreement are identified and then other aspects and elements of the
agreement are identified and studied in different groups, named the natural and incidental
elements, to reflect new perspectives on the division agreement’s meaning, purpose and
spirit in ancient Babylonian urban life.
Research Interests: Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Cuneiform, Ancient Law, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, and Ancient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages
The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement... more
The family division agreement in a deceased estate is part of a vast old Babylonian legal corpus. It prima facie functions as a simple, straightforward agreement between family members. However, the different aspects of the agreement are not fully understood by today’s scholars. This article offers some reflection on this specific agreement: the family division agreement in a deceased estate as a complex legal notion. In the article special attention is paid to what this agreement entails by explaining its practical and theoretical mechanisms. Reasons are given for categorising this agreement as a family division agreement deriving from a deceased estate in contrast with other types of division agreements from different estates. For practical reasons the different evolutionary stages in an estate are outlined. In relation to the theoretical mechanisms of the agreement, the relevance and meaning of recordings on objects in ancient Mesopotamia are discussed, with special reference to old Babylonian division agreements. In essence this agreement, as used in ancient Babylonian life, serves as a successful, timeless, estate administration mechanism and tool, to obviate any undesirable consequences of co-ownership of bequeathed property in the old Babylonian city-states.
Research Interests:
In most cases in a deceased person’s estate, there are problems with co-ownership where more than one family member inherits the deceased family estate assets. To escape the perils of co-ownership the beneficiaries consensually agree to... more
In most cases in a deceased person’s estate, there are problems with co-ownership where more than one family member inherits the deceased family estate assets. To escape the perils of co-ownership the beneficiaries consensually agree to divide the inherited communallyshared asset/s. This agreement can take place immediately after the death of the family estate owner or some time later regarding some or all of the said assets. On the conclusion of the division agreement, the contractual party who receives the awarded assets enjoys sole ownership and the other contractual parties by agreement retract their ownership. In a jurisprudential content analysis of forty-six recorded family deceased division agreements from Old Babylonian Larsa and Nippur, essential elements are identified which are the framework and qualification requirements for a family deceased division agreement. Within this framework the concepts, terms and elements of the agreement are categorised as natural and incidental elements, which reflect the specific law traditions and choices of contractual parties and show the unique scribal traditions in the different Old Babylonian city-states of Larsa, Nippur and Sippar. The aim of the study is to shed a more focused light on the interpretation of recorded Old Babylonian division agreements and to show that the division agreement was a successful, timeless, estate administration mechanism and tool to obviate any undesirable consequences of co-ownership of the bequeathed property.
It is a collective human endeavor, when studying something, to give the subject or object a name and therefore consciously and/or unconsciously attach a specific meaning to it. The generic classification of the so-called cuneiform... more
It is a collective human endeavor, when studying something, to give the subject or object a name and therefore consciously and/or unconsciously attach a specific meaning to it. The generic classification of the so-called cuneiform collections of Mesopotamia as “law codes” encompasses a certain meaning, which may obscure and confuse the recent debate concerning whether these collections are an authentic source of Mesopotamian law traditions regarding which different theories had already developed. The cuneiform collections of ancient Mesopotamia are not a singular body of
authoritative law but consist of different meanings extended over long periods with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. The majority of scholars persist in the idea, established by Scheil, of naming the cuneiform collections a codex or law code, and of interpreting these cuneiform collections as a codex or law code in today’s context and
meaning. Until new interpretations of cuneiform texts and artefacts regarding daily and legal activities have been completed, which can prove that these cuneiform collections are an authentic legal source and a codex in terms of today’s meaning, the interpretation of the collections on the legal
issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts and artefacts, and the branding of the cuneiform collections as a codex reconsidered.
authoritative law but consist of different meanings extended over long periods with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. The majority of scholars persist in the idea, established by Scheil, of naming the cuneiform collections a codex or law code, and of interpreting these cuneiform collections as a codex or law code in today’s context and
meaning. Until new interpretations of cuneiform texts and artefacts regarding daily and legal activities have been completed, which can prove that these cuneiform collections are an authentic legal source and a codex in terms of today’s meaning, the interpretation of the collections on the legal
issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts and artefacts, and the branding of the cuneiform collections as a codex reconsidered.
Research Interests:
The Mesopotamian inscriptions and collections in ancient Mesopotamia consist of different meanings extended over long time-periods and with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. Scholars in determining whether the texts are... more
The Mesopotamian inscriptions and collections in ancient Mesopotamia consist of different meanings extended over long time-periods and with social, political, economic and ethnic differences. Scholars in determining whether the texts are an authentic source for Mesopotamian law traditions developed different theories and each of these theories has different variations. In a literature study to obtain if the inscriptions and collections are an authentic source, the different theories and methodologies of the inscriptions and collections were mentioned and the inscriptions and collections were tested in accordance with the characteristics of the Mesopotamian law traditions. Until new interpretation of documents of daily activities and legal actives, which can prove, that there texts are an authentic source, the interpretation of the collections and inscriptions on the legal issues of ancient Mesopotamians must be applied with caution and studied together with the greater corpus of cuneiform texts.
Research Interests:
A redistribution agreement can be a useful alternative to other methods of liquidation of a deceased estate. In particular circumstances, the application of a redistribution agreement can obviate undesirable consequences of co-ownership... more
A redistribution agreement can be a useful alternative to other methods of liquidation of a deceased estate. In particular circumstances, the application of a redistribution agreement can obviate undesirable consequences of co-ownership or unpractical allocation of assets to the detriment of beneficiaries, which may even give rise to hardship. It is a unique arrangement in the sense that it
is something more than a stereotype contract where the beneficiaries, and in appropriate instances a surviving spouse, may freely contract with each other, but may encompass elements of sale, exchange or donation that could serve as “vehicles”for the reallocation of assets. It must be the intention of the parties to re-allocate their vested rights in the estate assets concerned and, to a certain extent, “trade”
with these rights. It appears that greater emphasis is placed upon the implementation of the statutory enactments than upon the origins of the redistribution agreement in Roman- and Roman Dutch Law. The statutory measures are not a codification of the rules governing redistribution agreements, and its ambit and implementation in the estate administration process should be viewed within a wider context. The different agreements that are used in contemporary South African law are the following: i) The statutory redistribution agreement involving immovable property in respect of which the provisions of section 14(1)(b)(iii) and (iv) of the Deeds
Registration Act apply; ii) The common law redistribution agreement involving movable property and to which the common law and case law applies, and iii) Combined redistribution agreements involving movable as well as immovable property to which statutory provisions, common law and case law applies. The essentialia of a redistribution agreement can be summarised as follows: i) It must be an agreement between the beneficiaries of a deceased estate and, if applicable, the surviving spouse of the deceased, involving particular assets in respect of which the contracting parties have a vested right, either in terms of a will or according to the rules of intestate succession. ii) A redistribution agreement must deal with the assets of the deceased estate or with movable property outside the
estate that may be introduced by a party to the agreement for purposes of equalising the allocation of assets. iii) The intention of the beneficiaries taking part in the agreement to re-allocate estate assets must be clear. This new legal milieu brought about by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights poses
interesting challenges for further development of the redistribution agreement which, through the centuries, served a useful purpose towards the relief of estate beneficiaries from inconvenience, and often from hardship, caused by co-ownership or a distribution of assets among beneficiaries which would otherwise be unpractical or unacceptable.
is something more than a stereotype contract where the beneficiaries, and in appropriate instances a surviving spouse, may freely contract with each other, but may encompass elements of sale, exchange or donation that could serve as “vehicles”for the reallocation of assets. It must be the intention of the parties to re-allocate their vested rights in the estate assets concerned and, to a certain extent, “trade”
with these rights. It appears that greater emphasis is placed upon the implementation of the statutory enactments than upon the origins of the redistribution agreement in Roman- and Roman Dutch Law. The statutory measures are not a codification of the rules governing redistribution agreements, and its ambit and implementation in the estate administration process should be viewed within a wider context. The different agreements that are used in contemporary South African law are the following: i) The statutory redistribution agreement involving immovable property in respect of which the provisions of section 14(1)(b)(iii) and (iv) of the Deeds
Registration Act apply; ii) The common law redistribution agreement involving movable property and to which the common law and case law applies, and iii) Combined redistribution agreements involving movable as well as immovable property to which statutory provisions, common law and case law applies. The essentialia of a redistribution agreement can be summarised as follows: i) It must be an agreement between the beneficiaries of a deceased estate and, if applicable, the surviving spouse of the deceased, involving particular assets in respect of which the contracting parties have a vested right, either in terms of a will or according to the rules of intestate succession. ii) A redistribution agreement must deal with the assets of the deceased estate or with movable property outside the
estate that may be introduced by a party to the agreement for purposes of equalising the allocation of assets. iii) The intention of the beneficiaries taking part in the agreement to re-allocate estate assets must be clear. This new legal milieu brought about by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights poses
interesting challenges for further development of the redistribution agreement which, through the centuries, served a useful purpose towards the relief of estate beneficiaries from inconvenience, and often from hardship, caused by co-ownership or a distribution of assets among beneficiaries which would otherwise be unpractical or unacceptable.
Research Interests:
The agreement governing the division of a shared inheritance in an estate, referred to in South African law as a redistribution agreement, is universally known. It serves as a useful estate administration tool to obviate the impractical... more
The agreement governing the division of a shared inheritance in an estate, referred to in South African law as a redistribution agreement, is universally known. It serves as a useful estate administration tool to obviate the impractical or undesirable consequences and situations in the commonly-held inheritance. Usually the involved parties have to engage in lengthy negotiations involving the trading of inheritance assets, taking cognisance of agricultural and architectural challenges, statutory limitations, and personal choices. Some solutions and mechanisms used by the Old Babylonians between 2000 and 1600 BCE to solve problems encountered during the dividing up of a shared inheritance are similar to those found in South African common law. However, whilst South African statutory provisions and court decisions impose restrictions, the Old Babylonians initiated their solutions and mechanisms with greater variety and flexibility. In this paper, I outline the Old Babylonians’ approach in my arguments for an innovative application of legal constructions within the South African redistribution agreement.
Research Interests:
Sections 108-111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) describe different scenarios involving the king/state’s economic regulation of trading activities. Although at first glance it might seem that paragraphs §108-111 of the LH are not a unified... more
Sections 108-111 of the Laws of Hammurabi (LH) describe different scenarios involving the king/state’s economic regulation of trading activities. Although at first glance it might seem that paragraphs §108-111 of the LH are not a unified corpus, I propose that §108-111 is a unified corpus containing a main denominator – the king/state’s intervention and control of the female sābītu’s business venture in her capacity as either an entrepreneur or a state agent. In all four paragraphs,we encounter sub-denominators, i.e. 1) the sābītu, holding a leading or supplementary position together with 2) the sābītu’s business place or her house, and 3) the sābītu’s business activities. Then, although only §108-110 entail dramatic executions, §111 is still part of the unified corpus, for it serves as a transitional phrase to the preceding corpus. Overall, the different scenarios in the unified corpus of §108-111 illustrate King Hammurabi’s idealistic ambition for centralisation and control, especially with regards to the female sābītu’s business venture, thus engrossing the reader in different case studies within a certain grouping.
Research Interests:
Present-day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadītu, ascribing the type of priestess as either a sacred prostitute (Astour 1966), and/or living as a virgin-celibate devotee of god/s, comparable to a present-day... more
Present-day scholars debate the status and role of the Old Babylonian nadītu, ascribing the type of priestess as either a sacred prostitute (Astour 1966), and/or living as a virgin-celibate devotee of god/s, comparable to a present-day nun (Stol 1995, 1999; Launderville 2010) and/or acting as a secluded priestess outside the normal boundaries of patriarchal control (Diakonoff 1986).
In this paper, I propose that the three nadiātu groups possess a variety of attributes, depending on the type of group and social-economic circumstances in OB Nippur and Sippar institutions, as well as the intentions of the paterfamilias and male family members. In addition, the nadītu’s religious role did not include a virgin-celibate life such as that of a present-day nun and the priestess is erroneously classified as a sacred prostitute. Rather, the nadītu institution’s raison d’être was to serve as an advantage to her family and society. When allowed to do so, the nadītu could by her wit and labor, accumulate for herself property for her own financial independence. Still, in essence, she remains a maintenance dependent and her so-called independence from the patriarchal household was mostly an illusion, by limitation and even prohibition in Old Babylonian society.
In this paper, I propose that the three nadiātu groups possess a variety of attributes, depending on the type of group and social-economic circumstances in OB Nippur and Sippar institutions, as well as the intentions of the paterfamilias and male family members. In addition, the nadītu’s religious role did not include a virgin-celibate life such as that of a present-day nun and the priestess is erroneously classified as a sacred prostitute. Rather, the nadītu institution’s raison d’être was to serve as an advantage to her family and society. When allowed to do so, the nadītu could by her wit and labor, accumulate for herself property for her own financial independence. Still, in essence, she remains a maintenance dependent and her so-called independence from the patriarchal household was mostly an illusion, by limitation and even prohibition in Old Babylonian society.
Research Interests:
Present-day terms, such as the usufruct in civil law systems, and its equivalent, the life-right, in common law systems, were foreign to Ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right – direct the... more
Present-day terms, such as the usufruct in civil law systems, and its equivalent, the life-right, in common law systems, were foreign to Ancient Near Eastern legal texts. Prima facie both terms – usufruct and life-right – direct the “time-limited interest” of the use and enjoyment by a person over the property of another. However, mainstream Ancient Near Eastern scholars’ unqualified use of the foreign terms – diverged in time and space – affect the translation and our insight into ancient texts. In addition, there are variances in the meaning and interpretation of the intrinsic aspects of property in the land ownership institutions and philosophies in present-day law systems and those of ANE, contributing to confusion as to which “time-limited interest” is applicable – the usufruct, life-right or even a hybrid form of both.
In the paper, I focus on the maintenance – a time-limited interest – of the nadītu priestess in the Old Babylonian city-state of Nippur. The application of Elizabeth Stone’s theory on Nippur’s land ownership – the institutions’ economy prima-facie – shows that the nadiātu of Nippur held a freestanding life-right, rather than a usufruct. However, I propose a deviation from the superficial overlay of present-day terms on the maintenance of the nadiātu by presenting a time-limited interest framework: identifying the characteristics of the maintenance-construction of the nadiātu from OB Nippur. I recommend applying a “unitary concept” for the maintenance construction, in the context of the OB Nippur texts, rather than only assigning coined terms, because this takes cognisance of the influences of Nippur’s land ownership philosophy.
In the paper, I focus on the maintenance – a time-limited interest – of the nadītu priestess in the Old Babylonian city-state of Nippur. The application of Elizabeth Stone’s theory on Nippur’s land ownership – the institutions’ economy prima-facie – shows that the nadiātu of Nippur held a freestanding life-right, rather than a usufruct. However, I propose a deviation from the superficial overlay of present-day terms on the maintenance of the nadiātu by presenting a time-limited interest framework: identifying the characteristics of the maintenance-construction of the nadiātu from OB Nippur. I recommend applying a “unitary concept” for the maintenance construction, in the context of the OB Nippur texts, rather than only assigning coined terms, because this takes cognisance of the influences of Nippur’s land ownership philosophy.
Research Interests: Assyriology, Old Babylonian period, Nippur, Assyriology Sumerology Akkadian Sumerian Sumerian & Akkadian literature Sumerian Religion Mesopotamia History Ancient Mesopotamian Religions Cuneiform Ancient Near East Ancient Near Estern Languages Religious Studies, and Ancient Near Easter Law, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Semitic Languages
In the paper, I investigate the function of the sanction-clause as it appears as an irregular contractual provision of choice in two family division agreements from Old Babylonian Tell Harmal. The clause provides that the family members... more
In the paper, I investigate the function of the sanction-clause as it appears as an irregular contractual provision of choice in two family division agreements from Old Babylonian Tell Harmal. The clause provides that the family members as contractual parties agree that, if any party to the agreement transgresses with a claim (ì-lal-e), a certain monetary amount, measured in units of silver, needs to be paid (ma-na kù-babbar). However, in the two texts, the amount of silver paid is unfixed. The question arises: why is the amount variable? Is the sanction-clause a deterrent to ensure adherence to the execution of the provisions of the agreement? Or does the sanction-clause hold another function?
To answer these questions, I focus on the function of the division agreement as a specific type of division agreement: the family division agreement from a deceased estate. I then argue that the so-called sanction-clause held a specific purpose, because of the division agreement’s complexity and the adherence to underpinned values of contractual certainty and economic sustainability in the decision-making of the contractual parties.
I propose that the sanction-clause functions as a post-division arrangement, in providing an opportunity for the conclusion of a possible future division agreement, serving alternatively as compensation by an agreed built-in payment and providing a solution for avoiding hardship from an unsustainable awarded share.
To answer these questions, I focus on the function of the division agreement as a specific type of division agreement: the family division agreement from a deceased estate. I then argue that the so-called sanction-clause held a specific purpose, because of the division agreement’s complexity and the adherence to underpinned values of contractual certainty and economic sustainability in the decision-making of the contractual parties.
I propose that the sanction-clause functions as a post-division arrangement, in providing an opportunity for the conclusion of a possible future division agreement, serving alternatively as compensation by an agreed built-in payment and providing a solution for avoiding hardship from an unsustainable awarded share.
Research Interests:
In a deceased estate division agreement contractually parties agree, from a range of different legal practices, those practices applicable to their mutual benefit in the division of a communally-shared inheritance. The aim of this paper... more
In a deceased estate division agreement contractually parties agree, from a range of different legal practices, those practices applicable to their mutual benefit in the division of a communally-shared inheritance. The aim of this paper is to show in the study of forty-six division agreements from Old Babylonian city-states of Nippur, Larsa and Sippar, that the application of legal traditions exhibit differences and similarities in isolation and across these city-states. Firstly, the paper identifies the varied options of legal practices used in these Old Babylonian city-states, as reflected in a recorded division agreement. Then the factors which influence the contractual parties’ choices of legal practices are synoptically outlined, such as family circumstances, practical challenges due to agricultural and architectural elements, economic use, personal preferences, as well as social and unique city-state practices. A discussion of Larsa as “practical-idealists”, Nippur as “traditionalists” and Sippar as “innovators” who use these varieties of options regarding legal practices, follows. It will further be investigated how those practices assisted them in the mechanisms, procedures, formalities, implementation and enforcement, as well as in the conditions and provisions of the division agreement. It seems that Larsa and Nippur demonstrate more similarities, whereas Nippur and Sippar have less in common in their choices of the application of the identified legal practices.
Research Interests:
In the Old Testament and legal corpora of Mesopotamia, the division agreement emerged as a recording of an oral agreement by a scribe, or as an occurrence in a text, or as an explanation of a division agreement which had once taken place.... more
In the Old Testament and legal corpora of Mesopotamia, the division agreement emerged as a recording of an oral agreement by a scribe, or as an occurrence in a text, or as an explanation of a division agreement which had once taken place. The aim of this paper is to highlight the differences between the prerequisite elements, as well as some of the legal practices of a division agreement both in the book of Joshua and in Mesopotamia. It will be shown that in Mesopotamia and in the Old Testament, with special reference to the Book of Joshua, there are differences and similarities in the prerequisite elements of their division agreements, as well as chosen legal practices incorporated in these agreements. We will start by critically discussing Kitz’s (2000) and Westbrook’s (1991) contributions, which place the Mesopotamian division agreement in analogue with the division agreement in the Book of Joshua and other occurrences in the Old Testament. Secondly, the paper identifies certain prerequisite elements qualifying each agreement as a certain type of division agreement. Finally, legal practices such as lot-casting and first-born share are identified, which the contractual parties choose to incorporate in each type of division agreement.
Prostitution is mainly seen as sensational, scandalous, lowly and immoral which seems present in the categorisation of women in the study of “prostitution” in ancient Mesopotamia, an area known as the “cradle of civilisation”. With the... more
Prostitution is mainly seen as sensational, scandalous, lowly and immoral which seems present in the categorisation of women in the study of “prostitution” in ancient Mesopotamia, an area known as the “cradle of civilisation”. With the discovery of cuneiform artefacts in ancient Mesopotamia (in general, the ancient Near East) in the beginning of the 19th century, Delitz “officially” introduces its cultures in his work “Bible und Babel”. Delitz outlines the “oldest” flood story and introduces ancient Mesopotamia within a religious framework. This tradition continues until the present times where the majority of the universities teach the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia and the wider geographical setting of ancient Near East in time and place, in theology departments. The effect is the studying of the gender roles and aspects of women’s sexuality, including prostitution and its formulation by mainly theologians who differ in their approaches and methodologies ranging from fundamentalist to liberal views of feminism. Some scholars’ studies portray indifference towards Mesopotamian women and consider them in inferior roles, including general statements that prostitution is the oldest or one of the oldest careers of women and that prostitution has been illegal most of the time. This paper discusses gender representation in scholarly reviews of textual sources with special references to the status of certain priestesses in Mesopotamia given as “prostitutes” with a critical approach to the widely accepted past explanation of the origins of prostitution, namely, that it derives from "temple prostitution." The question remains if we can ever free ourselves of the bias studying of other cultures. In the increased openness towards sexuality, these cultures may teach us more of the human nature of sexuality.
Some old Babylonian Sippar family deceased division agreements indicate in its written recordings and other texts an explicit consensual contractual provision between a priestess sister and other siblings (obligors) regarding maintenance... more
Some old Babylonian Sippar family deceased division agreements indicate in its written recordings and other texts an explicit consensual contractual provision between a priestess sister and other siblings (obligors) regarding maintenance rights over communal inherited immovable property. By agreement, the obligors, usually brothers, contractually agree to provide their priestess sister with maintenance support. They subsequently have a heavy financial burden placed upon them in the compliance with their contractual duty. The aim of the contractual maintenance provision is to promote the well-being of the priestess sister to the subsequent disadvantage of the obligors. The only positive outcome for the obligors is that after a lifetime of compliance with maintenance support to their sister, they receive the dominium-property free from constraint of maintenance obligation at the time of her death. The paper discusses this unique legal construction in the old Babylonian Sippar division agreements between family members regarding inherited immovable property from the parental deceased estate. The contractual maintenance provision forms part of a family deceased division agreement tailor-made to the needs of the contractual family members and reflecting complex family relationships and family contractual obligations in old Babylonian Sippar.
In Old Babylonian Nippur the division agreement is a method and an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole-ownership by re-allocating and trade their rights in the inherited communally shared deceased estate assets.... more
In Old Babylonian Nippur the division agreement is a method and an arrangement by beneficiaries to change co-ownership to sole-ownership by re-allocating and trade their rights in the inherited communally shared deceased estate assets. The paper is concerned with unique solutions found in Old Babylonian Nippur division agreements where deceased estate assets are divided in equal portions of sole-ownership. Special attention is given to the in-na-an-búr-clause balancing the value of each deceased estate asset awarded to a beneficiary as a quid pro quo, in conjunction with the rule of preference-portion of the eldest son (gišbanšur zag-gú-lá síb-ta mu-nam-šeš-gal-šè) and casting of lots (giššub-ba-ta in-ba-eš).