PARTNERSHIP, in general, the voluntary association of two or more persons for the purpose of gain, or sharing in the work and profits of any enterprise. This general definition requires to be restricted, in law, according to the account given below.
Though the English law of partnership is based upon Roman law, there are several matters in which the two systems differ. (I) There was no limit to the number of partners in Roman law. (2) In societas one partner could generally bind another only by express mandatum; one partner was not regarded as the im plied agent of the others. (3) The debts of a societas were ap parently joint, and not joint and several. (4) The heres of a de ceased partner could not succeed to the rights of the deceased, even by express stipulation. There is no such disability in Eng land. (5) In actions between partners in Roman law, the bene ficium competentiae applied—i.e., the privilege of being condemned only in such an amount as the partner could pay without being reduced to destitution. (6) The Roman partner was in some re spects more strictly bound by his fiduciary position than is the English partner. For instance, a Roman partner could not retire in order to enjoy alone a gain which he knew was awaiting him.
Previous to the Partnership Act 1890 the English law of partnership was to be found only in legal decisions and in text in the upper Atrek (Attruck) valley (Isidor. Charac.), and built his residence Dara on a rock in a fertile valley in Apavarktikene (Justin xli. 5; vi. 46) , now Kelat still farther eastward ; the centre of his power evidently lay on the borders of eastern Khorasan and the Turanian desert. The principal institutions of the Parthian kingdom were created by him (cf. Justin xli. 2). The Scythian nomads became the ruling race ; they were invested with large landed property, and formed the council of the king, who appointed the successor. They were archers fighting on horseback, and in their cavalry consisted the strength of the Parthian army ; the infantry were mostly slaves, bought and trained for military service, like the janissaries and mamelukes.
But these Scythians soon amalgamated with the Parthian peas ants. They adopted the Iranian religion of Zoroaster, and "their language was a mixture of Scythian and Median" (i.e., Iranian). Therefore their language and writing are called by the later Persians ("Pehlevi"), i.e., Parthian (Pehlevi is the modern form of Parthawa) and the magnates themselves Pehlevans; i.e., "Par thians," a term transferred by Firdousi to the heroes of the old Iranian legend. But the Arsacid kingdom never was a truly na tional State ; with the Scythian and Parthian elements were united some elements of Greek civilization.
To Arsaces I. probably belong the earliest Parthian coins; the oldest simply bear the name Arsaces ; others, evidently struck after the coronation in Asaak, have the royal title (i3aortMcos 'Apo-6,Kov). The reverse shows the seated archer, or occasionally an elephant; the head of the king is beardless and wears a helmet and a diadem ; only from the third or fourth king do they begin to wear a beard after the Iranian fashion.
Of the successors of Arsaces I. we know very little. His son, Arsaces II., was attacked by Antiochus III., the Great, in 209, who conquered the Parthian and Hyrcanian towns but at last granted a peace. The next king, whom Justin calls Priapatius, ruled 15 years (about 19o-175) ; his successor, Phraates I., sub jected the mountainous tribe of the Mardi (in the Elburz). He died early, and was succeeded not by one of his sons but by his brother, Mithridates I., who became the founder of the Par thian empire. Mithridates I. (c. 170-138) had to fight hard with the Greeks of Bactria, especially with Eucratides (q.v.) ; at last he was able to conquer a great part of eastern Iran. Soon after the death of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes (163) he conquered Media, where he refounded the town of Rhagae (Rai near Teheran) Linder the name of Arsacia ; and about 141 he invaded Babylonia. He and his son Phraates II. defeated the attempts of Demetrius II. (139) and Antiochus VII. (129) to regain the eastern provinces, and extended the Arsacid dominion to the Euphrates.