Commentary for Bava Batra 139:9

ולימא ליה שטרך בידי מאי בעי אמר ליה וליטעמיך וכי א"ל נאנסו מי מצי א"ל שטרך בידי מאי בעי אמר ליה

Some report this discussion as follows. R. Ahab. Huna inquired of R. Shesheth: [If the vendor said, 'I sell you the field] with the exception of half of such-and-such a carob tree', or 'half of such and-such a sycamore', how do we decide? Of course he does not acquire the other carobs.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since it would be impossible to press so much into the word 'except' in this case. ');">⁸</span> The question is, does he acquire the half left over in the carob specified,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Does the 'except' avail for this? ');">⁹</span> or does he fail to acquire even that? — He replied: He does not acquire it. R. Aha then raised an objection [from the following]: '[If the vendor says], "Except half of such-and-such a carob, half of such-and-such a sycamore", he does not acquire the remaining carobs'. Does not this mean that he only fails to acquire the remaining carobs, but he does acquire the remainder of that carob? — No, replied R. Shesheth; even the remainder of that carob he does not acquire. The proof is this. Suppose [he was selling him a field and] said to him, 'My field is sold to you with the exception of half of such-and-such a field', would he fail to acquire only that half and acquire the other half? Obviously he would not acquire it; so here too he does not acquire. <span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This passage is introduced at this place because it contains a ruling of the 'judges of the Exile' mentioned above. ');">¹⁰</span> R. Amram inquired of R. Hisda: If a man deposits something with another and receives a written acknowledgment for it, and the other subsequently asserts, 'I returned it to you', how do we decide? Do we argue that since we should accept his word if he cared to say that he had lost it through circumstances over which he had no control,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to the rule laid down in Ex. XXII, 10-11, If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass etc. to keep,' and it die, or be hurt, or be driven away, the oath of the Lord shall be between them both&nbsp;… and the owner thereof shall accept it. ');">¹¹</span> now too we accept his word,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he is putting forward a weaker plea. ');">¹²</span> or [do we accept the plea of] the other if he says, 'How comes your acknowledgment in my hand?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if, as you say, you returned it to me, why did you not take back the acknowledgment? ');">¹³</span> — He replied: We accept the word [of the defendant]. But the claimant can plead, 'How comes your acknowledgment in my hand?' — Said he [R. Hisda]: On your own argument, if the defendant said, 'I lost it through circumstances over which I had no control,' could the claimant plead, 'How comes your acknowledgment in my hand?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This would not be any evidence, because the defendant could say that seeing he was pleading force majeure he thought it unnecessary to take back the acknowledgment. ');">¹⁴</span> He [R. Amram,] replied: When all

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