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390 Baba Batra Baba Buch

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

390

among them

tripartition of

Masseket Kelirn, which in the Tosefta divided into three Babas— pmma, Mezi'a, and Batra." Seder '01am contains thirty chapters,

4-vii.)

is

ground for a family, or the undertaking by a work-

which are

scribed as follows

also

grouped in three "babas."

sr.

J.

JI.

F.

man



to prepare

the sale of land for a burial-

it (vi.

8).

The

burial-place

is

de-

A

cave hewn out in a rock 4 cubits broad and 6 cubits long (or, according to R. Simeon, 6 by 8 cubits) along the length of the cave on each side there are three graves of 4 cubits long, 1 cubit broad, and 7 handbreadths ('tefahim ') high; and 2 such graves in the back of the cave. In front of the cave was the court ('hazer') 6 by 6 cubits,

"



BABA BATRA of the three

("

Talmudic

The Last Gate

")

The



third

tractates of the order Nezi-

with man's responsibilities and rights as the owner of property, of a house or field. This " massekta " (treatise) is not, like Baba Kamma and Baba Mezi'a, the exposition of a certain passage

kin, dealing

in the Pentateuch.

It is

divided into ten chapters,

which may be described as follows (1) Regulations relating to property held by more than one owner (eh. i.); (2) responsibilities of an owner of property with regard to that of his neighthe contents of

bor

(ch.

ii.);

(3)

established rights of ownership

and rights connected with property

(ch. iii.); (4)

laws

referring to the acquisition of property by purchase (ch. iv.-vii.); (5) laws of inheritance (ch. viii.-ix.); (6)

laws concerning documents (ch. x.). Joint owners of property may dissolve partner-

1

so as to afford sufficient room for the bier persons attending the burial."

.

ship and divide the property, if the parties consent, except in the case of a volume of the Scriptures, which may not be divided under any circumstances. Things which lose their value on division can only be divided if all the owners consent. Except in these cases, either party has a right to insist on a division of the property. In the case Joint where a courtyard (" hazer ") is owned Ownership, by several partners, each of them has to contribute to the usual requirements of a court; if they divide it, a partition wall or fence must be erected in accordance with certain rules. The previous partners are now neighbors and their relations are described in chap. ii. 2. The fundamental rule about neighboring property is, that the owner of the adjoining property must avoid everj'thing that might prove a nuisance to the neighbor, or a source of injury to the neigh" The noise of a smith's hammer, bor's property. of a mill, or of children in school, is not to be conDisputes as regards insidered a nuisance " (ii. 3). jury or nuisance are generally settled by the fact of prior or established rights (Hazakah). 3. "Hazakah" (established right, possession de facto) is proved by the undisturbed exercise of such a right during a certain period (three years), in spite of the presence of the rival claimant in the same "land." In this respect Palestine was divided into three " lands " or districts (iii. 2) Juriah, Galilee, and Persea (ch. iii.). 4. In the transfer of a house, a court, a winepress, a bath, a township, or a field, much depends on the meaning of these terms, which are fully deIn the Mishnah similar definitions fined in chap. iv. are given of a boat, a cart, a yoke of oxen, and the like (v. 1-5). In selling the produce of the field care must be taken that Acquisition of there be no deviation from the condiProperty. tions of the sale as regards quality and quantity, lest the sale be declared in;



Various problems valid (" mekah ta'ut, " v. 6-vi. 3). resulting from the sale of property, of a house, or of a piece of land are discussed in the Mishnah (yi.

5.

The laws

and the

Num.

of inheritance are based on

by tradition. Amongthese that the husband inherits the property of

xxvii. 8-11, as interpreted is

the rule

husband's death being settled in the marriage contract (KetuAnother rule gives to the firstbaii). Laws of born son a double share of his deceased his deceased wife, her claim in case of the

Inheritance.

Thus the daughZelophehad are Said to have

father's property. ters of

claimed, as their father's property, three shares of the Holy Land (which is assumed to have been divided among the 600,000 men brought out of Egypt); namely, the share of Zelophehad and, as a first-born son of Hefer, a double share of

the property of his deceased father (viii. 3). These laws do not interfere with the right of a man to donate his property according to his pleasure (viii. 5). Complicated cases are dealt with in chap. ix. such as the simultaneous claims of the heirs, the wife, and the creditors of the deceased; or the conflicting claims of the heirs of the husband and of those of the wife, where the husband and wife are found dead at the same time; the heirs of the former contending that she died first, and that by her death her property became the property of the husband; while the other party contends that he died first, and that the wife's heirs inherit her property. 6. As legal documents are of great importance in the problems dealt with in the three Babas, a chapter is added, containing regulations concerning the writing of such documents. Of these one peculiarity may be mentioned; namely, the difference between "get pashut," a simple, unfolded document, and "get mekushshar," a folded document. The latter was prepared in the following way: When a line or two had been written the parchment was folded and one witness signed on the back of the document this operation was repeated Regas many times as the parties concerned ulations liked. This method, requiring a longer About time for the execution of the document,



Documents,

is said to have been originally introduced for the writing of a letter of divorce in the case of hasty and passionate husbands (especially priests who were prevented by law from remarrying their divorced wives'), in order to give them time to calm down (B. B. 160S). The massekta of the three Babas closes with a general remark on the educational value of the study of civil law. The Tosefta has eleven chapters, which correspond to the ten chapters of the Mishnah as follows chap, i. corresponds to chap. ii. of Mishnah; ii. to iii. iii.



to iv. vii.



to

to v. 1-5;

iv. vii.



v. to v. 6-11;

viii.-x. to ix.



xi.

to x.

vi.

to vi.-vii.