Mishnah.org Logo

Mishnayos Bava Kamma Perek 10 Mishnah 3

בבא קמא פרק י׳ משנה ג׳

3

In a case of one who recognizes his stolen vessels and scrolls in another’s possession, and a rumor had spread in the city that the former had been the victim of theft, the purchaser, i.e., the one in possession of these items, must take an oath to the victim as to how much money he spent on the purchase, and he then takes that sum of money in exchange for returning the items. And if no such rumor had spread, it is not in the purported victim’s power to assert that the items were stolen, and he is not entitled to demand their return, as I could say: The items were never stolen; rather, the purported victim sold them to another, and this individual who currently possesses the item purchased them from that other person.

הַמַּכִּיר כֵּלָיו וּסְפָרָיו בְּיַד אַחֵר, וְיָצָא לוֹ שֵׁם גְּנֵבָה בָּעִיר, יִשָּׁבַע לוֹ לוֹקֵחַ כַּמָּה נָתַן, וְיִטֹּל. וְאִם לָאו, לֹא כֹּל הֵימֶנּוּ, שֶׁאֲנִי אוֹמֵר מְכָרָן לְאַחֵר וּלְקָחָן זֶה הֵימֶנּוּ:

ג׳
Bartenura

המכיר כליו וספריו וכו' – Our Mishnah [deals] with a person who is not used to selling his utensils, for since a report of a theft had לוקח gone forth in the city, and there are witnesses that these were his utensils and books, we don’t suspect that perhaps he actually sold them.

נשבע לוקח כמה נתן ויטול – and he should return to him his utensils, and we are speaking about the time before despair.

המכיר כליו וספריו וכו׳ מתניתין באדם שאינו עשוי למכור כליו, דכיון דיצא לו שם גניבה בעיר. ואיכא סהדי שאלו הכלים והספרים שלו היו, לא חיישינן דלמא איהו זבנינהו:

ישבע לוקח כמה נתן ויטול. ויחזיר לו כליו. ולפני יאוש קמיירי: