Bava Basra 62b

בבא בתרא ס״ב ע״ב

Bava Batra 62b

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Topic

How much land the buyer gets when a sale document leaves out a boundary or uses unclear wording

Overview

This amud opens by closing an earlier series of questions: the case of boundaries listed in an alternating pattern stays unresolved (תיקו). Next the גמרא asks about a sale document that lists three of a field's boundaries but leaves out the fourth. רב says the buyer gets everything except the strip along the fourth side. שמואל says he gets even that strip. רב אסי says he gets only one furrow along the named edges, because the seller held back the rest. רבא's ruling comes in two versions. One starts from רב's view and the other from שמואל's, and each adds conditions about whether the strip is 'swallowed' inside the other boundaries and whether it is important (a row of palm trees or a nine-קב area). The גמרא lists the cases where both versions agree and leaves the two mixed cases to the judges (שודא דדייני). The amud then turns to רבה's rulings on how the exact wording of a sale decides how much is sold. אביי challenges these rulings and רבה is silent. For the first ruling, bills of sale from רבה's house show that he kept his view. For the second, the people first conclude that both wordings give half, and the discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. QuestionWhat if the boundaries were listed in an alternating pattern?
2. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
3. StatementThree boundaries listed, the fourth left out: רב's view
4. Statementשמואל: the buyer gets even the fourth strip
5. Statementרב אסי: only one furrow along the field
6. ResponseWhy רב אסי rules this way
7. Conclusionרבא rules like רב
8. ConclusionLimit: when the fourth boundary is 'swallowed'
9. ConclusionEven a strip that sticks out goes to the buyer unless it is important
10. ConclusionSo a swallowed strip goes to the buyer even if it is important
11. StatementSecond version: רבא rules like שמואל, but only for a swallowed strip
12. ConclusionEven a swallowed strip stays with the seller if it is important
13. ConclusionSo a strip that sticks out never goes to the buyer
14. ConclusionWhat both versions of רבא agree on
15. ConclusionThe two mixed cases are left to the judges
16. StatementHalf of my share versus half of the land
17. Challengeאביי asks what the difference is, and רבה is silent
18. ProofBills of sale show that רבה kept his ruling
19. StatementA fourth boundary that halves the field, or that sets apart a plot
20. Challengeאביי asks why the two boundary wordings should differ
21. ProofPeople conclude from the silence that both wordings give half