Bava Basra 29b

בבא בתרא כ״ט ע״ב

Bava Batra 29b

Learn Bava Basra 29b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Basra 29b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How steady and complete use must be for a חזקה: exceptions, partners taking turns, unused patches of a field, and who must prove the years of use

Overview

This amud keeps asking how complete and steady a person's use of a property must be to create a חזקה, a claim of ownership based on three years of use. First, the גמרא gives two exceptions. For traveling peddlers, בית דין raises the 'use was not steady' argument for them. A store in מחוזא, which is only used by day, needs only daytime use. Next comes a story: רמי בר חמא and רב עוקבא בר חמא took turns using a maidservant in alternate years. רבא rules that this turn-taking is not a חזקה, against each other or against an outsider, unless a written document made their partnership public. רבא then rules that someone who used a whole field except a small בית רובע acquires everything but that patch. רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע says an unplantable patch goes along with the rest of the field, but רב ביבי בר אביי objects that even rocky ground can be used for animals or for spreading produce. Finally, in a dispute over a house, רב נחמן tells the occupant to prove his years of use. רבא objects that the one taking property away must bring the proof, and the גמרא begins to show that each of them seems to contradict himself in another case, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (12)

1. Statementמר זוטרא agrees the court argues on behalf of traveling peddlers
2. Statementרב הונא agrees a store in מחוזא needs only daytime use
3. StatementTwo brothers take turns using a maidservant, and someone challenges them
4. Conclusionרבא rules that taking turns breaks the claim against outsiders too
5. StatementA written partnership document makes it public
6. StatementUsing a field except for one small patch
7. StatementAn unplantable patch goes along with the land
8. ChallengeEven rocky ground can be used in other ways
9. StatementA dispute over who owns a house
10. Statementרב נחמן: go prove that you lived there
11. Challengeרבא objects: the one taking property away must bring proof
12. ChallengeSetting up contradictions in רבא's and רב נחמן's views