Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership release. Dated: 7 Shevat 1390. Location: Fustat. An olive-oil partnership is dissolved. This fragment contains two documents related to the same partnership agreement, filed in the court one after the other over a two-day period in January 1079. The first document, unsigned and seemingly copied in lines 1-12, represents the termination of a partnership and a corresponding mutual release of three partners, Ghālib b. Ḥalfōn, Moses b. Ghālib, and Meshullam b. Furqān. Ghālib releases Moses and Meshullam; Moses and Meshullam release Ghālib. That Moses and Meshullam did not release one another in this document suggests either that the document was Ghālib’s copy of a mutual release and that other copies were written for Moses and Meshullam, or that Ghālib was the active partner and Moses and Meshullam were his investors. If the latter, Moses and Meshullam would have had no mutual obligations and therefore no need to release one another. This explanation is consistent with lines 13-28, which describe Ghālib and Moses' partnership. As a settlement, Ghālib agrees to pay Moses and Meshullam each month in order to settle the balance (seven dinars). Meshullam's role in the partnership is unclear; only Ghālib and Moses are mentioned as partners in the olive-oil concern. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 127)

Accounts or inventories in Judaeo-Arabic organized in entries associated with days of the week. Based on the handwriting this fragment is likely from the 16th-19th centuries. A wide array of items are referenced such as lemon, carrot, fish, pepper, ginger, soap, olive oil, and bread (or possibly meat because "לחם" is ambiguous between JA and Hebrew). MCD.

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Written in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1003-1004. Location: Fustat. In bad repair, this fragment (T-S 8J22.16) reveals part of a partnership document between ʿOvadya and Menashshe ha-Kohen. It is signed by Ḥalfōn b. Manasseh and Manasseh ha-Kohen b. Jacob, thus datable to the first half of the twelfth century. Each of the partners is to receive a copy of the agreement, which is enacted in accordance with both their wills, as well as a specific appraisal (which is not preserved). This appraisal may have detailed the assets of the partnership and each partner’s contribution. Division of profits and losses is not preserved. The relationship is described both as a shutafut and a shirka. The term shirka may be used to refer to an act of qinyan; lines 8-9 seem to refer to the act of shirka along with acts of payment and appraisal. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 187-188). T-S 12.525 expresses that the store sold olive oil and legumes, and the partners invested equally (9 dinars each, ʿOvadya in cash and Menashshe in goods such as linseed oil, olives, and lemon juice). The term of the contract was one year and should a party leave, he would pay the other 2 dinars. Each party received a copy. (Information from Weiss, "Legal Documents written by the Court Clerk Halfon Ben Manasse", 149-150)