The Talmud holds that if a deed of land sale goes missing, a court is allowed to issue a replacement copy. This is good news for the buyer — mostly. But there are strict limits on what the replacement deed can say. Rav Nahman explains:
Our (replacement) deed is not intended to enable the collection of reimbursement in event of repossession, neither collection from liened property that has been sold nor collection from unsold property; rather, it is intended merely to ensure that the land is established in the possession of the purchaser.
In a replacement deed, the court is not permitted to state anything about a guarantee that was issued by the seller to compensate the buyer in case the land was later repossessed by creditors. The replacement deed, therefore, might not protect the buyer as well as the original deed.
It doesn’t seem like the rabbis to create vulnerability needlessly. Indeed, that is not Rav Nahman’s intention at all. Here’s what happens next: Based on the fact that the court has to stipulate that their deed does not imply a guarantee, Rafram concludes that Rav Nahman holds that such a guarantee is a standard element of an agreement to purchase land. Further, this means that should a regular deed not mention a guarantee, we can assume that its omission was a scribal error and we can enforce the guarantee should the land come to be repossessed. Ironically, by not including the guarantee in replacement deeds, the court makes such a guarantee universally enforceable.
But Rav Ashi rejects this argument. He holds that guarantees against repossession must be stipulated in deeds of sale. If one is not present, we cannot assume there was a scribal error; rather, we should take the document at face value.
Instead of launching a talmudic disputation that seeks to resolve the disagreement between Rav Nahman and Rav Ashi, the Gemara shares an anecdote about a particular incident that came before the court:
There was a certain woman who gave money to a certain man to act as her agent and purchase land for her. The agent went and purchased land for her, but without a guarantee. The woman brought the matter before Rav Nahman.
In this case, Rav Nahman rules in favor of the woman who is upset that her deed of sale includes no guarantee, reasoning that an agent is responsible to act for the benefit of the person that they represent. Purchasing land without a guarantee is risky at best, so Rav Nahman rules that the sale is nullified.
This case suggests that a guarantee is a standard part of a land purchase agreement and the agent who fails to secure one is derelict in his duties. The Gemara says nothing further about the dispute between Rav Nahman and Rav Ashi, however. The story appears to give a nod to Rav Nahman’s position, which is accepted by later legal commentators.
Rav Nahman, however, is not yet done with this inept agent. Although the woman has been saved from a transaction that left her open to financial loss, she is also left without the property that she hoped to purchase. To rectify this, Rav Nahman orders the agent to go and purchase the property himself without a guarantee and then to sell it to the woman with a guarantee — leaving himself open to the exact financial risk that he had previously accepted on her behalf.
This ruling forces the agent to make the situation right for the woman. Is it punitive? Perhaps. And maybe it is also designed to make an example of this incompetent agent, and remind agents everywhere of the seriousness of their role. The later legal commentators approved of Rav Nahman’s actions in this case and they incorporated it into their codes as well.
Read all of Bava Batra 169 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on December 11, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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