Bava Kamma 88B

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Text Excerpt

אזל רב שמואל בר אבא קמיה דרבי ירמיה בר אבא, אוקמיה בנכסי. אזל רבי אבא אמרה למילתא קמיה דרב הושעיא, אזל רב הושעיא אמרה קמיה דרב יהודה. אמר ליה, הכי אמר שמואל: האשה שמכרה בנכסי מלוג בחיי בעלה, ומתה ⁠– הבעל מוציא מיד הלקוחות.

Rav Shmuel bar Abba went before R' Yirmeya bar Abba to claim his mother’s property. R' Yirmeya established him as the owner of the property, in accordance with what was written in the document. R' Abba, the mother’s husband, went and said a report of the matter before Rav Hoshaya. Rav Hoshaya went and said a report of the matter before Rav Yehuda. Rav Yehuda said to Rav Hoshaya: This is what Shmuel says: In a case of a woman who sold her usufruct property, which belongs to her but whose profits her husband garners, in her husband’s lifetime, and then she died, the husband repossesses the property from the purchasers. The granting of her property by means of the document is analogous to a sale, and R' Abba can repossess the property from Rav Shmuel bar Abba.

אמרוה קמיה דרבי ירמיה בר אבא, אמר להו: אנא מתניתא ידענא, דתנן: הכותב נכסיו לבנו לאחר מותו ⁠– הבן אינו יכול למכור, מפני שהן ברשות האב; והאב אינו יכול למכור, מפני שהן כתובין לבן. מכר האב ⁠– מכורים עד שימות. מכר הבן ⁠– אין לו ללוקח עד שימות האב.

The rabbis said that halakha before R' Yirmeya bar Abba, who had ruled that the property belongs to Rav Shmuel bar Abba. He said to them: I know the Mishnah that supports my opinion, as we learned in a Mishnah (Bava Batra 136a): In the case of one who writes a document transferring ownership of his property to his son, stating that the transfer should take effect immediately but the son will have use of it only after the father’s death, the son cannot sell the property due to the fact that it is still in the father’s possession. And the father, even though he retained the right to use the property, cannot sell the property due to the fact that it is written as belonging to the son. If the father sold the property, then it is sold to the extent that the purchaser may use it until the father dies. If the son sold the property during his father’s lifetime, the purchaser does not have the right to use the property until the father dies.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.