Bava Metzia 110a

בבא מציעא ק״י ע״א

Learn Bava Metzia 110a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Bava Metzia 110a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Old trees as principal; who is believed in disputes over mortgaged land, sharecropping shares, and field improvements

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the answers to a challenge about old trees a married woman inherits. Either the trees aged while she owned them, or they stood in someone else's field, so they were her whole principal. Next comes a mortgage שטר that says 'years' with no number. The מלוה already ate the disputed third year's fruit. רב יהודה says land stays with its owner, and רב כהנא says fruit stays with whoever ate it. The הלכה follows רב כהנא, because the truth can still come out and the court should not have to rule twice. In a case where the מלוה claims five years and says the שטר is lost, רב יהודה believes him with a מיגו that he could have claimed he bought the field. רב זביד and רב עוירא disagree, and רבינא and רב אשי discuss how the Sura mortgage protects the owner: he pays the tax, digs the trenches, or else protests. Then רב יהודה and רב נחמן argue about an אריס who claims half while the owner says one-third. אביי explains that they truly disagree. The amud ends by asking who must bring proof when יתומים and a בעל חוב argue over who improved a field; the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. ChallengeThe end of a challenge from a משנה about old trees
2. ResolutionRead the משנה as 'they grew old'
3. ResolutionAnother answer: the trees were in someone else's field
4. QuestionA mortgage שטר that says 'years' with no number
5. Responseרב יהודה: land stays with its owner
6. Responseרב כהנא: fruit stays with whoever ate it
7. ConclusionThe הלכה follows רב כהנא
8. ChallengeBut we rule like רב נחמן that land stays with its owner
9. ResolutionWhy this case is different from רב נחמן's ruling
10. QuestionNew case: five years or three, and the document is lost
11. Responseרב יהודה: the lender is believed because of a מיגו
12. Rejectionרב זביד and רב עוירא: the lender is really hiding the document
13. Challengeרבינא: would the Sura mortgage let lenders steal land?
14. Resolutionרב אשי: in Sura the owner pays the taxes and digs the trenches
15. ChallengeWhat about land with no trenches and no tax?
16. ResolutionThe owner should have protested
17. QuestionWhat if he did not protest?
18. ResponseHe caused his own loss
19. QuestionSharecropper says half, owner says one-third
20. Responseרב יהודה and רב נחמן disagree
21. StatementAt first they thought there was no real argument
22. Rejectionאביי: they disagree even where half is the custom
23. QuestionOrphans and creditor argue over who improved the field