Wenn er eine Metziah sah und darauf fiel und eine andere kam und sie ergriff, erwarb diese sie. [Dies ist nur dann der Fall, wenn die Metziah gemeinfrei war, denn die vier Ellen eines Mannes erwerben für ihn nicht gemeinfrei. Daher erwirbt derjenige, der es ergreift, es. Aber in einer Gasse, die ein Weg für eine Person ist, oder an den Seiten des öffentlichen Raums, wo es keine Menschenpresse gibt, erwerben die vier Ellen für ihn jede Metziah und jedes Objekt von Hefker, das ihm in diesem Raum nahe steht, und niemand anderes darf es ergreifen—eine rabbinische Verordnung, um Streitigkeiten zu verhindern.] Wenn er sie (Männer) hinter einer Metziah herlaufen sah, nach einem "gebrochenen" Hirsch, [der nicht rennen kann und auf dem Feld "bewacht" wird, wenn andere es nicht nehmen, und der ähnlich ist a metziah] und nach Vögeln, die nicht fliegen können, und er sagte: "Mein Feld hat (sie) für mich erworben", es erwirbt (sie) für ihn. [Vorausgesetzt, er steht an der Seite seines Feldes und kann ihnen nachlaufen und sie erreichen, bevor sie das Feld verlassen.] Wenn ein Hirsch normal rannte oder Vögel flogen, sagte er: "Mein Feld hat sie erworben ) für mich ", hat er nichts gesagt.
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
זה שהחזיק בה זכה בה – and especially when the lost object was in the public domain, since the four cubits [surrounding] a person do not acquire for him in the public domain, the person who takes hold of it acquires title to it. But in an alley/recess (adjoining an open place to which merchants retire to transact business; alternatively: market stand under a colonnade), which is the path of an individual, or on the sides of the public domain where many are not crowding there, the four cubits of a person take possession for any found object and any ownerless object that is near him is considered like four cubits, and another person may not take seize it. And the Rabbis decreed this so people would not come to quarrel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
If a man saw lost property and fell upon it and someone else came along and seized it, he that seized it acquired it. If a person saw a lost object and fell upon it in an attempt to take the object, and someone else came along and took it before the other person got to it, the person that took it gets to keep it. In the previous mishnah we learned that merely a person’s saying that he wished to take the object does not cause it to belong to him. In our mishnah we learn that even physically making a move to get it is also insufficient. The lost object is not his until he actually takes possession.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
אחר צבי שבור – which is incapable of running and is well-guarded in the field (i.e., fenced in), if others will not take it, it is like a found object.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
If a man saw people running [in his field] after lost property [such as] a deer with a broken leg, or pigeons that couldn’t fly, and he said, “My field acquires [them] for me”, he has acquired them. But if the deer was running normally or the pigeons flying, and he said, “My field acquires [them] for me”, he has said nothing. In this section we learn that under certain circumstances a person’s field can acquire something for him. In such a case the animal is acquired not by physical possession by the claimant but by the animal being on his field. If the person sees people running after a lost object in his field and that lost object cannot move off his field he can acquire it by saying that his field acquires it. If, however, the animal can run or fly and therefore is not “stuck” on the person’s field, the field cannot acquire the animal. In other words in order for the field to acquire the animal on behalf of its owner three conditions must be fulfilled: 1) other people have not claimed it (in the mishnah others are running after it but have not reached it; 2) the animal is physically unable to leave the field; 3) the owner of the field makes a claim of acquisition over the animal.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Metzia
זכתה לו – and he stands at the side of his field, and as such is able to run after them and reaches them before they leave from his field.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Metzia
Questions for Further Thought: Mishnah four: If my animal runs onto another person’s field and the other person claims that his field acquires the animal for him, does the animal now belong to him? How can you figure out the answer to this question from the mishnah?
