On yesterday’s daf, we learned an ancient version of squatters’ rights. The mishnah there taught that if someone takes ownership over another person’s field for three years, the courts assume that they are the actual owner of the field and the squatter becomes the actual owner, without any kind of legal contract or transfer of funds. But why? On today’s daf, we learn that the great sage Rava has the answer.
Rava said: A person waives the first year, waives two years, but he will not waive three years.
We can imagine that a landowner who has a number of fields might see someone squat on one of them for a short period of time and assume the squatter is hungry and perhaps needs the produce more than they do. Letting a squatter have the fruit for a year or two might be thought of as a kind of charity, even. But after that, Rava thinks, the landowner would begin to see that the squatter is not treating the land as an emergency stop-gap, but as their own. When that happens, in year three, the landowner will evict the squatter and re-take possession of their land. If they don’t, the court can assume that they actually didn’t care about the field and were ceding it to the squatter — who now becomes the legal owner.
Interestingly, that’s not the only answer the Talmud — or even Rava — gives us. In fact, the Talmud next gives us two more answers, both also attributed to Rava.
Rather, Rava said: A person is not particular the first year, and is not particular for two. He is particular for three.
This answer is slightly different from the first one in its reasoning, though not its implications. An owner may not actually waive their rights to their field’s produce, but still not feel like going through an extended process of taking a squatter to court to get them evicted. According to this version of Rava’s view, then, an owner may hesitate to evict a squatter for a while, but by year three would be fed up enough to take legal action — at least if they wanted to keep their land.
Rava’s third answer is a bit different:
Rather, Rava said: A person is careful with his document the first year, and he is careful for two and three years. For more, he is not careful.
Rava’s focus here is on the squatter. He’s describing a case where two people come to court, each claiming to own a particular field. One is an absentee owner who has a legal document proving ownership, and the other has lived on the land for a time but has no legal document — a presumptive owner. Rava states that if the presumptive owner has lived on the land for one, two or three years, we can and should expect them to have legal documentation of their ownership. If they don’t, then they are a squatter and can be evicted. After that, we are inclined to believe them when they say that they lost the deed.
It can be hard to keep track of all your important documents, contracts, and other ephemera. I’m sure many of us, myself included, have lost an important paper somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle of our desk drawers. Rava’s third answer recognizes this reality. If the presumptive owner has lived on the land for more than three years, then we assume that they are the actual owner and just lost the contract.
Ultimately, the Talmud doesn’t tell us which of Rava’s rationales is correct. But it’s a good reminder to pay attention — both to your property and to your paperwork.
Read all of Bava Batra 29 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on July 24, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
