Talmud for Chagigah 3:5

מִן הַמּוֹדִיעִית וְלִפְנִים, נֶאֱמָנִין עַל כְּלֵי חֶרֶס. מִן הַמּוֹדִיעִית וְלַחוּץ, אֵין נֶאֱמָנִים. כֵּיצַד, הַקַּדָּר שֶׁהוּא מוֹכֵר הַקְּדֵרוֹת, נִכְנַס לִפְנִים מִן הַמּוֹדִיעִית, הוּא הַקַּדָּר וְהֵן הַקְּדֵרוֹת וְהֵן הַלּוֹקְחִים, נֶאֱמָן. יָצָא, אֵינוֹ נֶאֱמָן:

From Modi'ith within, they (amei ha'aretz) are believed concerning earthen vessels. From Modi'ith outside, they are not believed. [Modi'ith was a city fifteen mil distant from Jerusalem. From Modi'ith within, towards Jerusalem, it is permitted to take light earthenware from potters who are amei ha'aretz, such a cups, pots, and ladles; for it is impossible (to secure them) otherwise. In Jerusalem they did not make (potters') ovens because of the smoke, neither for lime nor for pottery, for which reason they believed them and did not decree against them. For a decree is not imposed upon the congregation, which they are not able to abide by.] How so? A potter selling pottery — if he entered within Modi'ith, he is the potter [Only he who brought them from outside Modi'ith was believed, it being impossible not to believe him. But if he made a middleman of another potter, an am ha'aretz, living in Modi'ith or within, he (the second) was not believed.], and they are the pots [He is believed only concerning those pots that he bought; but he is not believed to add to them pots of another potter living in Modi'ith or within], and they are the buyers. [The potter has credibility only for those chaverim who saw him bring them, but not for others.] Once he leaves Modi'ith [to return], he is not believed.

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