الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Every ancient society needed law to strengthen its internal cohesion, based on
a common sense view of right and wrong, which represented truth, order, balance and justice in the universe. The early kings represented a source of law; they delegated their authority regarding the preservation of ma‛at to officials who actually performed the king’s duties in defending ma‛at. Thus, legal officials applied the law.The surviving legal manuscripts and references in ancient letters indicate that the ancient Egyptian society operated according to decrees of the king, which had the force of law, together with the precedents established in previous legal cases.
The king’s duties in defending Maat through detailed legal edicts that considered
as an expression of the royal will, regulating the status and behaviour of individuals.
The kings were responsible for all legal matters as the sole legislator, and the royal decrees is the main source of legislation and Egyptian law. The continued legitimacy of the king depended on his fulfilling the mandate assigned to him by gods, and the physical presence of the king.
The government in ancient Egypt was by the royal decree. The administrative system was the sum of those decrees, thus, the king issued the royal decrees as a part of primary legislative and judicial interest of the central administration, giving them an exclusive rights for the temple personnel and property in order to prevent the exploitation of their products
During the Old Kingdom, as the structure of the state became of many side complications, the obligations of people increased towards the country and the performance of public works, at that time the royal decrees appeared as early as 4th Dynasty to exempt the foundations in particular for the royal mortuary temples as well as foundations endowed by privileged private individuals.
The decrees are symptomatic of the growth in the powers held by the monarchs at the very end of the Old Kingdom and beginning of the First Intermediate Period and refer to the weakness of both the Pharaoh and central government ,where the administration of the state concentrated in the southern part.
The decrees are essentially administrative records on stelae that made it both accessible and durable and they can be seen as a form of royal propaganda to consolidate the rule of the king by spreading it throughout the temples. It was believed that the royal decrees set up in temples to preserve them from damages and to survive forever.
Since the royal command is an expressions of the Pharaoh’s will and through him of the gods, and his power was universal reflecting his authoritative capacity and deal with any aspect of Egyptian society .
Hence, the topics dealt with in it are incredibly various ,they encompass truly authoritative measures involving enforcement of different kinds of power, prohibition, punishment, assignment of task , assignment of office (As in Neferkauhor decree to Shemay to appoint his son Idy), Sometimes the command discharge an official from an office,
as the famous decree of Nebkheperure-Antef of 17th Dynasty .
The main aim of many decrees was to benefit religious institutions, particularly the temples together with its properties, staff and workers from complying with certain compulsory state labour obligations against theft or requisitioning by other authorities or institutions.
Several commands issued to confirm that the royal revenues necessary for the functioning of the temple and prohibited officials from interfering in the temples affaires. Therefore, the royal decrees were designed to protect and exempt properties of temples and their employees from taxes, from any kind of impressments as well as personal labour request (corvée).
The main purpose of the exemption decrees that focused on exempting from labour (k3t) and (mdd) tax , reflected the King’s intention was not to the benefit of the people involved but exclusively for the temple’s advantage, by giving better service to the god, and not to reduce the fiscal burden of a certain group. The exemption from corvee seems to have been an appendix to the king’s donation of gifts, land, and other resources to the temples. Thus, it concerned with the organization of the public economy not a social measure.
The commands note labour exemptions to be seen as redundant, it depended on a specific exercises of political authority that was reified by their public inscription in the tomb or temple.
The role of such an authorization is seen in pepi I’s decree for the pyramids of Snefru at Dahshur ,Neferirkare’s decree at Abydos, Teti’s decree at Abydos ………………………etc.
The main sources of law in the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period derive from royal inscriptions, administrative papyri, private documents, private inscriptions and literature. Although no written laws are attested from the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period Furthermore, an administrative text from the 13th Dynasty ( papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446) , mentions several laws about deserters from forced labor, but their content, obviously well known to the officials, is not cited. There are also a few royal decrees from the Middle Kingdom do not contain laws as such but regulate particular circumstances such as offering foundations, protection of sacred areas, or the demotion of a criminal priest.
By the New Kingdom, The gods received piles of offerings; rituals are celebrated by great number of priests. To maintain this religious establishment, large parts of Egypt consecrated to the temples. It is shown that these temples owned as much as third of the arable surrounding lands and were exempted from taxes. Even the people in their employment, were protected by law against impressment, the employment of the royal decrees addressed to any transgressor of the king’s resolutions played a significant role, enhancing the authority of the official document beyond the capacity of legal agencies. The potential to preserve the royal authority through time is, safe from moral, social, and political harm, protecting them from any successor in the office, governor from another region, and common local visitors.
Such decrees offers an interesting perspective on the nature of kingship and its authority. The best preserved and a good example for all the decrees that regulate the country is the Great Edict of Horemheb, who rebuilt international links, achieved peace, restored religion, law, economy, and brought Egypt back to the glorious place ,one protected by the gods , safe from crime , free of corruption and abundant in food . It informs how to deal with the restoration, which embodied revolutionary features in the traditional scheme.
The Great Edict of Horemheb concerned with the population of Egypt as a whole ,
or at least in part , it was intended to stamp out widespread bribery and corruption to put an end to many administrative abuses by military and officials who were not infrequently violating social justice ,
Sometimes the royal decrees issued to consolidate the economic control over the region by pronouncing the punishments as Nauri- kanais decrees of Seti I .These penalties are traditionally marked by its human treatment of criminals. from the first legal text in the Old kingdom through the Middle kingdom until the New kingdom, the punishments for most crimes involved beating, cutting off noses and ears, removal from office, forced labour, and, in some cases, the impalement. These penalties are specified through the crime, not through the social status or administrative position of the criminal.
The main aim of the decree not to weak the government but to make the behaviour of its officers less capricious.
The vizier as a chief official was responsible for following up the implementation of these decrees, as well as the overseer of scribe(s) of the king’s authorization.
from a political point of view, the royal decrees considered as a kind of redefinition of responsibilities within the same governmental structure.