Halakhah for Bava Metzia 5:4

אֵין מוֹשִׁיבִין חֶנְוָנִי לְמַחֲצִית שָׂכָר, וְלֹא יִתֵּן מָעוֹת לִקַּח בָּהֶן פֵּרוֹת לְמַחֲצִית שָׂכָר, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן נוֹתֵן לוֹ שְׂכָרוֹ כְּפוֹעֵל. אֵין מוֹשִׁיבִין תַּרְנְגוֹלִין לְמֶחֱצָה, וְאֵין שָׁמִין עֲגָלִין וּסְיָחִין לְמֶחֱצָה, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן נוֹתֵן לוֹ שְׂכַר עֲמָלוֹ וּמְזוֹנוֹ. אֲבָל מְקַבְּלִין עֲגָלִין וּסְיָחִין לְמֶחֱצָה, וּמְגַדְּלִין אוֹתָן עַד שֶׁיְּהוּ מְשֻׁלָּשִׁין. וַחֲמוֹר, עַד שֶׁתְּהֵא טוֹעָנֶת:

A shopkeeper is not set up (in a transaction) for half-profits, and one may not give (him) money to buy produce for half-profits unless he gives him (the shopkeeper) his wage as a worker. [One may not tell a shopkeeper: "This produce is sold in the market four sa'ah for a sela, and you sell it retail in your shop and profit a sa'ah. Take this produce and sit and sell it in your shop, and we shall share the profits." The rationale: We rule that such a transaction is half loan-half deposit. One who accepts wares for half-profits presumably accepts responsibility for accident and depreciation of half the principal. Therefore, that half, since he is liable for accident, is a loan to him, being appraised for him at the market price and yielding him half profit. It is found, then, that the shopkeeper looks after the other's half, which is deposited with him in payment for a time grant in returning the loan, for which reason it is forbidden — unless he pays the shopkeeper for looking after that half as a worker idled from his regular work, i.e., if he were a carpenter or a smith — how much he would take to be freed from this heavy work to engage in light work.] Hens are not set for half (profits) [i.e., One may not assess the value of eggs and give them to the owner of a hen to set it upon them to hatch chicks for half of the profit (the cost differential of chicks to eggs). For since the hen owner accepts responsibility for half the worth of the eggs if they are spoiled or if they (the chicks) die, half of the transaction is a loan, so that the hen owner is found to be looking after the other half in payment for a time grant (in returning the loan)]. And calves and foals are not assessed at half [i.e., "Now, they are worth this and this — Take it upon yourself to raise them for two years for half-profits, and for half-liability if they die"], unless he pays him for his work and for his food expenditure [(In the former instance,) what he pays to feed the chicks]. But small calves and foals may be accepted for half-profit [without assessment, (with the understanding) that if they die, he pays nothing, and if they live, they are divided.], and they are raised until they are a third [of their (anticipated full) height, at which point they divide.] And an ass, until it can bear a load. [This was their practice in raising them before dividing them.]

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