If witnesses said: This is our signature, but we were forced (to sign) [their lives being threatened (but if it were "money forcing," their money being "threatened" and, it goes without saying, if they said: (We signed) because of the great sum of money given us, that they are not believed; for "a man does not render himself an evildoer." For "a man is kin to himself" and is not believed to testify vis-à-vis himself neither for nor against)], or (if they said) we were minors, or we were unfit to testify, they are believed. [Here, too, (they are believed only if they claim that they were) unfit to testify because of kinship; but if because of transgression, they are not believed.] And if there are witnesses that it is their signature or if their signature were corroborated from a different source, they are not believed. [If their signature appeared on a different deed which had been certified in beth-din, and that deed came before us together with this one, and the signatures were alike (they are not believed)].
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
אנוסים היינו – compulsion at the pain of death lest he kill him, but compulsion of money, lest he take his money [from him] and all the more so, if he said to him: “for most of the money that he gave us,” they are not believed, for no one incriminates himself (i.e., his testimony against himself has no legal effect), for a person is close to himself, and is not believed about himself, neither for acquittal nor for conviction. And similarly, those who are ineligible for testimony, which is on account of nearness but on account of transgression, they are not believed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
This mishnah contains another case illustrating the principle of “the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permits”.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
יוצא ממקום אחר – inscribed in another document that is in the possession of the Jewish court , and this same document came before us with this one and the writing of the signatories are similar one to the other.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
If witnesses said, “This is our handwriting, but we were forced, [or] we were minors, [or] we were disqualified witnesses” they are believed. In this scenario, a person comes to court with a document signed by witnesses. When his opponent claims that the document is a forgery, the witnesses are summoned to the court to testify to their signatures. The witnesses state that the signatures are indeed their signatures, but that nevertheless the document should not be upheld. This is for one of three reasons: they were forced to sign, they were minors when they signed, or they were disqualified witnesses (see Sanhedrin 3:4). In this case they are believed, and the document is invalid. This is because of the principle of “the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permits”. Without the witnesses admission that they signed the document, the document would have been invalid. When they admit that they signed, they are in fact “the mouth that forbade”. When they say they were forced, or that they were minors or otherwise disqualified, they are the mouth that permits, and they are believed. To state this another way, if they had wanted to lie they could have said that this was not their handwriting.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
But if there are witnesses that it is their handwriting, or their handwriting comes out from another place, they are not believed. If their signature can be validated in another way, for instance by other witnesses testifying that they recognize the signatures, or by another document that contains their signatures, then the witnesses are not believed when they say that they were forced, or they were minors or otherwise disqualified. This is not a situation where “the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permitted”. Since they are not believed to say that they were invalid, their signatures are validated and the document is upheld.
