Introduction

In the Egyptian legal tradition the private conveyance by sale was conceived of as an oral agreement between two parties, or two groups of parties, in the presence of witnesses. Property rights were well developed in ancient Egypt before the Ptolemaic period. In order for a person to convey title to a piece of property, an equivalent value had to be exchanged. Thus the Demotic “sale contract” was termed a “document in exchange for silver” (above, 2.2). This basic idea was valid for other types of conveyances, and was at times merely fictional, i.e., an actual exchange of property for an equivalent value did not always occur.

This basic principle of Egyptian law, “notwendige Entgeltlichkeit” (“necessary remuneration”), is paralleled in other ancient Near Eastern traditions. If the surviving record is any guide, there was considerable evolution in the formalities of the written sale in ancient Egypt and, over time, an increase in the use of written instruments of sale. Most conveyances were probably accomplished orally and therefore without need of a document. Before the first millennium bc, most sales recorded in writing simple memorialized oral agreements and were rudimentary.