Responsa for Bava Batra 43:2
אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק ומודה רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע ברוכלין המחזירין בעיירות דלא מצי מעכב דאמר מר עזרא תקן להן לישראל שיהו רוכלין מחזירין בעיירות כדי שיהו תכשיטין מצויין לבנות ישראל
R. Nahman b. Isaac said: R. Huna the son of R. Joshuah also agrees that itinerant spice-sellers cannot prevent one another from going to any given town, because, as a Master has stated, Ezra made a rule for Israel that spice-sellers should go about from town to town so that the daughters of Israel should be able to obtain finery. This, however, only means that they are at liberty to go from house to house [in the strange town], but not to settle there. If, however, the seller is a student, he may settle also, a precedent having been set by Raba in allowing R. Josiah and R. Obadiah to settle, in despite of the rule. The reason he gave was that, as they were Rabbis, they would be disturbed in their studies [if they had to return to their own town].
Teshuvot Maharam
A. If A was a resident of T when the aforesaid ordinance was passed, whether he supported the measure, accepted it tacitly, or openly protested against it, he is bound by it even though he subsequently moved out of T. For a person's protests against an ordinance designed for the public benefit and passed by a majority vote of the worthy members of the community are of no avail. Thus the ordinance of Rabbenu Gershom reads as follows: "If the residents of a city have established an ordinance for the benefit of the community, for the benefit of the poor, or for any other useful purpose, and most of the worthy ones have agreed to it, the others may not void such ordinance and may not demand to take the matter to court, for no court may sit in such a case, because everything depends on the opinion of the prominent men of the city, in accordance with the custom of the ancients, or as an emergency measure."
If A, however, moved out of T before the ordinance was passed, he is to be governed only by talmudic law and by customs generally accepted by the communities, while any restrictive measure adopted by the community of T after A moved out is not binding on him. A community may force a dissenting minority and all those who subsequently come to settle in the town, to accept its decrees and ordinances. But a community possesses no authority over a person who moved out of town before the decrees and ordinances were passed, and who does not live there any longer. Therefore, if A had had ample opportunity, since he left T, to force his debtors to replay their debts to him, and failed to do so, he must pay the community taxes on such debts. But if he was unable to collect these debts, the custom is well established in all communities not to tax such debts. Any local ordinance in opposition to such custom is not binding on a non-resident who was a non-resident at the time the ordinance was passed. But, if the community representatives claim that A has had ample opportunity to force collection of his debts, and A denies such claim, the latter must take an oath to bolster his denial.
This responsum is addressed to "my relative Kohen Zedek."
SOURCES: Am II, 140; Mordecai Hagadol, p. 300a.
Teshuvot Maharam
A. If A could not have collected his debts unless he had lent additional funds to his debtors, he had a right to lend them such funds, and these transactions should have been tax-free. The members of the community, as interested parties, are not qualified to serve as witnesses in this matter. Therefore, either every member of the community must take an oath to support the claim of its representatives, or the community must permit A to take an oath in support of his contention. However, if the community can produce even a single, independent, witness — one who has no financial interest in this trial, or one from whom the community shall agree to take a certain specified amount as his share of the tax regardless of the outcome of this trial — in support of the claims of the representatives, or to the effect that A freed the community from the obligation of taking an oath, no oath will be required.
SOURCES: Cr. 156.