(Si l'on dit à son voisin :) "Je vous vends un beth-kor de terre," corde-mesure "," [c'est-à-dire "exactement", comme on mesure avec la corde, ni plus ni moins] —S'il y avait un peu moins [dans ce domaine qu'un beth-kor complet, la vente est valide], et il [le vendeur] déduit [la différence.] S'il y avait un peu plus de [terre qu'un beth-kor], il ( l'acheteur) rend [au vendeur le terrain supplémentaire ou sa valeur, comme expliqué ci-dessous.] S'il [le vendeur] a dit [à l'acheteur: "Je vous vends un beth-kor de terre], plus ou moins, [ pour tant et tant d'argent, "sans dire" corde à mesurer "], alors même s'il y avait un quart de moins pour chaque sa'ah ou un quart de plus pour chaque sa'ah [c'est-à-dire trente quarts pour un beth- kor], la vente est valide. [Et puisque le tanna enseigne: "même s'il y avait un quart de moins pour chaque sa'ah plutôt que:" même s'il y avait moins de sept et demi kavin pour un kor ", nous en déduisons que même avec une vente minimale comme : "Je vous vends un beth-sa'ah de terre, plus ou moins," s'il y en avait un quart de moins ou un quart de plus, la vente est valable. Et s'il a dit: "beth-kor," sans réserve, ceci , aussi, est considéré comme "plus ou moins."] S'il y avait plus que cela [un quart pour chaque sa'ah], il fait un calcul [combien c'est plus qu'un beth-kor, et combien ça coûte par rapport au prix du beth-kor]. Que lui rend-il? De l'argent. Et s'il (le vendeur) le souhaite, il rend la terre. Pourquoi, alors, ont-ils dit qu'il rendait de l'argent? [Car selon la loi, il devrait rendre seulement la terre, l'acheteur n'ayant acheté qu'un beth-kor.] Pour renforcer la main du vendeur. [Pour qu'il ne perde pas (la valeur) de ce petit (morceau de) terrain, qui, en lui-même (c.-à-d. terre) ne vaut rien pour lui.] De sorte que s’il laissait [dans un beth-kor] un champ de neuf kavin, [de sorte que la terre est maintenant importante pour lui— comme indiqué ci-dessus (1: 6), que neuf kavin constituent un champ —alors il ne lui rend pas d'argent, mais le vendeur prend sa terre.]; et (s'il est parti) dans un jardin, une demi-mesure, et, selon R. Akiva un quart de mesure, il lui rend la terre. [Nous sommes informés par notre Michna que sept kavin et demi pour un kor, ce qui équivaut à un quart de kav pour chaque sa'ah, sont annulés (par le vendeur); de sept kavin et demi jusqu'à neuf kavin (et non compris), un calcul doit être fait; et à partir de neuf kavin, la terre doit être rendue.] Et il rend non seulement l'excédent, mais tous les quartiers. [Telle est l'intention: là où il est dit qu'un calcul (monétaire) doit être fait ou qu'il rend la terre, ce n'est pas seulement l'excédent qu'il rend, mais aussi les trente quarts supplémentaires à un beth-kor. Car puisqu'il y a une terre «distinctive» dans son ensemble, il ne renonce à rien.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
מדה בחבל – meaning to say, with an exact measurement, I sell you this field which has a Khor’s worth of soil, just as they measure with the rope’s measurement, no less and no more.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
Introduction
Mishnah two continues to deal with error’s made in the measurements of a field and the rules regarding returning the difference in such cases.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
פחת כל שהוא – for that field did not have a complete Khor’s worth of soil, the transaction exists and the seller deducts according to that which is less.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
[If he said, “I will sell you] a kor’s space of soil as measured by a rope”, and he gave him less, the buyer may reduce the price; and if he gave him more, the buyer must give it back. But if he said, “Whether less or more”, even if he gave the buyer a quarter-kab’s space less in every seah’s space, or a quarter kab’s space more in every seah’s space, it becomes his; if [the error] was more than this, a reckoning must be made. If a person sold a piece of land by the measure of a rope, the expectation is that the land must be sold precisely. Hence, if the land was smaller the buyer may reduce the price and if the land was larger the buyer must give it back. As we shall see later in the mishnah, the buyer may under such circumstances, be required to pay more money for the extra land. If, however, the seller said that he was selling more or less a piece of land the size of a kor, than the margin of error is a quarter-kab. This works out to 1/24 of the land sold. If the error was under that margin, then the sale stands as is. If the error was greater then the buyer must return the surplus if the plot was larger or the seller must lower the price if the plot was smaller.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
הותיר – land [was additional] a little bit, over the Khor’s worth, he (i.e., the purchaser) returns to the seller the land that was added on or the value of the land as will be explained further on.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
What does he (the give him back? Its value in money; but if the seller wants, he gives him back the land. And why did they say that he could give back its value in money? To strengthen the power of the seller, for if, in a field [containing a kor’s space] there would still have remained to him nine kab’s space, or, in a garden, a half-kab’s space, or according to Rabbi Akiva a quarter-kab’s space, the buyer must give back to him land. When the buyer returns the surplus sold to him, under certain circumstances he gives the seller extra money and does not return the land itself. This is considered to be a benefit to the seller. According to the strict letter of the law, if a kor’s space was sold, the buyer should not be forced to buy more land and he should therefore return the extra land itself. However, if the buyer were to return to him a very small piece of land, it would be unusable. Therefore, if the seller should so desire he can ask for money in return for the extra land. If, on the other hand, the land was large enough, as listed in the end of section 2c, then the seller can take back the land.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
אם אמר לו – the area of a Khor’s worth of soil I am selling to you, whether it be less, whether it be more for such and such a cost, and he did not tell him, “according to the measurement of the rope.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
And not only must he give back the quarter-kab’s space, but all of the surplus. If the margin was slightly over the accepted margin of error, the buyer does not only return a small portion to place the error under the margin of error. Rather he returns the entire surplus. In other words if the margin of error is a quarter-kab per seah, and the surplus was a half-kab, the buyer returns the entire half-kab and not just a quarter.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
אפילו פחת או הותיר רובע קב – for every Se’ah, which means thirty quarters (i.e., a quarter Kab equals 104 1/6 square cubits) for the area requiring a Khor of seed, he takes possession of it. For since the Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] taught even if he lessened it by one-quarter for a Se’ah (i.e., a Se’ah’s area equals 2500 square cubits), and did not teach “even if he lessened it seven and one-half kabs to the Khor, we learn from it, that even in a small sale, such as a Se’ah I am selling you, whether it be less or more, if he lessened it by a quarter of a Khor or added to it a quarter, he takes possession of it. But if he said, an undefined area requiring a Khor of seed, also whether it is less or more, it is similar.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
Questions for Further Thought: • What is the difference between the subject of mishnah one and the subject of mishnah two? • The mishnah presents a leniency on the seller, namely that he has a choice to receive the surplus in money or in land. Why is the mishnah lenient on the seller, even though it might force the buyer to pay for more land than he intended?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
יותר מכאן – more than one-quarter for every Se’ah if he gave too much, he should make an accounting, calculating how much he gave over the area requiring a Khor of seed, and how much they are worth, according to the calculations that he sold him an area requiring a Khor of seed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
ולמה אמרו יחזיר לו מעות – for according to the law, he doesn’t have to return anything to him other than land, for the purchaser did not buy anything other than an area requiring a Khor of seed., but the Sages did not establish that he should give him money corresponding to this extra part, but rather to give the prerogative to the seller, so that he will not lose that small amount of land, and it will not appear to him to be anything.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
שאם שייר – in the area of a field requiring a Khor of seed, a house of nine Kabs, for now it appears to him that this field that we spokk about which is a house of nine Kabs is considered to be called a field, therefore, he does not return to him the money, but rather, the seller takes his field. And we learn from our Mishnah that seven and one-half kabs for a Khor which is a quarter of a kab for every Se’ah, there is a pardon. From seven and one-half kabs until nine kabs but not exactly in total, he makes an accounting; nine tabs or more, he returns the land.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
ולא את הרובע – this is what he said: where we said that he should make an accounting, or return the land, not the additional alone does he return, but also the thirty fourths of the extra area of the Khor of seed he also returns. And because he has important land among everything, he does not forgive anything.
