[Si uno le dice a su vecino estas dos cosas que se contradicen entre sí:] "Te estoy vendiendo cuerda-medida, más o menos", ["medida de cuerda" connotando exactitud, y "más o menos", aproximación], [ la última frase] "más o menos" cancela [la primera, "medida de cuerda". [E incluso si hubiera un cuarto menos por cada sa'ah, o un cuarto más, la venta se mantiene.] (Si él dice: "Te estoy vendiendo) más o menos, medida de la cuerda", "medida de la cuerda" cancela "más o menos". Estas son las palabras de Ben Naness. [Sostiene que se sigue la última expresión; y los rabinos difieren, diciendo que se sigue la expresión menor (es decir, la que da como resultado "menos" para el comprador), ya sea la primera o la última. Los rabinos tienen dudas sobre qué expresión se debe seguir, por lo que (gobiernan) que el comprador toma de acuerdo con la expresión que resulta en menos para él. La halajá está de acuerdo con los sabios.] (Si él dice :) ["Te estoy vendiendo un poco de tierra] dentro de estos signos y límites" menos de un sexto, la venta se mantiene; hasta un sexto, deduce (la diferencia). [La intención es: si el beth-kor careciera de un sexto (y, por supuesto, menos de un sexto), la venta se mantiene. Pero si hubo más de un sexto, y hacia abajo, hasta (pero sin incluir) un sexto, deduce (la diferencia).]
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
מדה בחבל וכו' – A person who says to his fellow these two languages that contradict each other, the measure of the rope, which implies be defining exactly/squeezed in/confined whether less or more [as measured by the rope] that implies that he was not strict about a small amount less or more, the latter language which is a small amount less or more nullifies the first language which is that which is measured by the rope, and even if he lessened it a quarter of a Se’ah or made it larger by a quarter of a Se’ah, he has taken possession of it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
Introduction
Mishnah three continues to deal with the measurement of fields for purposes of selling.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
דברי בן ננס – for he holds that one should take hold of the latter language. And the Rabbis disagree with him, whether the first [language] or the latter [language] for they doubt if he took possession of the first language or the latter language. And the purchaser takes the lesser of the measurements, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
[If he said], “I will sell you [a piece of land] as measured by the rope, whether it is less or more” the condition “whether it is less or more” makes void the condition “as measured by the rope”. [And if he said], “Be it less or more, as measured by the rope”, the condition “as measured by the rope” makes void the condition “be it less or more”, according to Ben Nanas. In the scenario mentioned in both clauses of section one, the seller uses contradictory language when selling the field. As we learned in mishnah two, when the seller says that he is selling “as measured by the rope”, the intention is that the measurement be precise. On the other hand, if he says, “whether it is less or more” the intention is that the measurement will not necessarily be precise. According to our mishnah if he said both languages within one sentence the last language voids the first language. In other words, we assume that when he said the last language he intended to change his mind from the first language. Therefore the case will be adjudicated only based on the last language.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
בסימניו ובמצריו – He (i.e., the seller) said to him (i.e., the purchaser): “I am selling to you an area requiring a Khor of seed of soil within these markers and these boundaries.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
[If he said, I will sell you a piece of land] by its marks and its boundaries”, and the difference was less than a sixth, the sale stands. If it was as much a sixth the buyer may reduce the price. If a person sold a piece of land using its marks and boundaries as indicators to the place of the land, there is an allowance of up to one-sixth error. Beyond that, meaning more than one sixth error, the buyer may reduce the price if the error was to the seller’s favor (i.e. the land was smaller than stated). Alternatively, the buyer will return money or the property to the seller, if the error was to the buyer’s favor (i.e. the land was larger than stated).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
[הכי גרסינן] פחות משתות הגיעו [עד] שתות ינכה – This is the interpretation: if he lessened it by one-sixth of the area of a Khor of seed, and all the more so, less than one-sixth, he takes possession of it, but more than one-sixth and below up until one-sixth, but not one-sixth included, he deducts from it.
