Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Bava Basra 53

Bava Basra 53 continues with the discussion of what type of overt act of chazakah must be performed in order to indicate dominion over property. While the gemara at the top of 53a continues the prior discussion in relation to transactions or gifts, I would like to briefly focus on the acquisition of ownerless property which is discussed on 53b.

On Bava Basra 53b, the gemara talks about the acquisition of ownerless land which had formerly belonged to a convert who died childless and as a result has no inheritors. Some of the cases discussed include two pieces of property which are side by side with a border in between them and whether a person can acquire all the property by performing an act of chazakah on one piece (with the intention of acquiring everything) or by performing an act of chazkah on the border fence in an attempt to acquire the entire property.

A later example of chazakah were more interesting to me. This dealt with a field which was ownerless (due to the death of the convert without any next of kin) and a person came along and built a home there, but did not put doors on the building. Another person then came and installed the doors. R' Nachman taught in the name of Rabbah Bar Avuha that the person who put the doors on acquires the property. The Rashbam explains that the building of the house without putting on doors is not an act of building, since without the installation of the doors, anyone can access the property. He then clarifies that the beginning of the building process is not what creates the chazakah, it is the completion.

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