Baba Metzia

Bava Metzia (Talmudic Aramaic: בבא מציעא, "The Middle Gate") is the second of the first three Talmudic tractates in the order of Nezikin ("Damages"), the other two being Bava Kamma and Bava Batra. Originally all three formed a single tractate called Nezikin (torts or injuries), each Bava being a Part or subdivision. Bava Metzia discusses civil matters such as property law and usury. It also examines one's obligations to guard lost property that have been found, or property explicitly entrusted to him.

Bava Metzia contains 119 pages divided into ten chapters.

An honorary trustee is one who finds lost property. He has to keep it as "shomer ḥinnam" until he can restore it to the rightful owner (Deut 22:1–3). The regulations as to what constitutes finding, what to do with the things found, how to guard against false claimants, how to take care of the property found, under what conditions the finder of a thing is bound to take care of it, and under what conditions he is not so obligated—all this is explained in the first two chapters. A trustee who takes no payment is only responsible for such loss of the entrusted property as has been caused through the trustee's negligence ("peshi'ah"). The mode of procedure in such cases, and the regulations concerning eventual fines, are treated in ch. ii. 1; all other laws concerning the responsibilities and the rights of the shomer ḥinnam are contained in ch. iii. 4–12.

Contains various laws concerning sale and exchange. The mere payment of money does not constitute the sale; and the buyer may legally cancel the sale and claim the return of the money, unless he has "drawn" the thing bought away from its place: this "drawing" ("meshikah") makes the sale final. Until such act is performed the seller is to some extent a shomer ḥinnam of the money paid. Similarly may the buyer become a shomer ḥinnam of the thing bought, if, on finding that he has been cheated, he wants to cancel the sale, to return the thing bought, and to claim the money back. What constitutes cheating ("onaah") is defined in the course of this chapter. (See Alienation).

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