Commentary for Bava Batra 321:9

ואיבעית אימא לעולם דכתב עד דידעינן בה דהא חתימות ידא

[the deed] would [yet] remain valid through [the remaining part of the signature], 'son of Jacob witness';<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The proper form of a signature was, 'X son of Y, witness'. The algebraic symbols are represented in the Talmud by the Biblical characters, Jacob and his son Reuben. ');">¹⁷</span> as we learnt: [The signature]. 'son of X, witness', is valid?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Git. 87b. ');">¹⁸</span> — [The witness] writes, 'Reuben son of', across one line,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that by cutting off the last horizontal line of in the deed, 'Reuben son of' which is written vertically on the other side is cut off with it. ');">¹⁹</span> and, 'Jacob. witness', above it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Above the last line and across the back of the second line (from the bottom) of the text; and this, i.e., the name only of the father of the witness, would remain on the deed were the last line to be cut off. [(V. fig. 1, cf. Fischer loc. cit.)]. According to the description of the Yad Ramah, the signatures appear thus (v. fig. 2). ');">²⁰</span> Is [there no reason, however,] to apprehend that [though] he might cut off, 'Reuben son of', [the deed] would [yet] remain valid through [the remaining portion of the signatures]. 'Jacob, witness';<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The court mistaking the name of the father for the name of a witness, regarding 'Jacob' as the name of the witness. ');">²¹</span> as we learnt: [a signature], 'X, witness' is valid?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Git. l.c. ');">²²</span> — [The word], 'witness' is not written.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In such a case, the name of a witness without the name of his father is invalid. Hence, should one line of the deed be cut off leaving the name of the witness's father only on the remaining portion of the deed, the signature would be invalid. ');">²³</span> And if you wish it may be said [that a witness], in fact, does write [after his signature], 'witness', [but this is a case] where it is known that the signature

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