Responsa for Bava Batra 297:5

אי במשיכה ליתנהו גביה אי בחליפין אין מטבע נקנה בחליפין אי אגב קרקע לית ליה ארעא אי במעמד שלשתן אי שלח לי לא אזילנא

to an inheritance is [also] entitled to a gift [and] whosoever is not entitled to an inheritance is not entitled to a gift [either]. If by pulling;18 they are [surely] not with him. If by exchange;19 a coin [can] not be acquired by 'exchange'.20 If on the basis of land;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That might be presented to him at the same time. (V. Kid. 26a). One may acquire a movable object (including money) by the acquisition of land that was sold or presented simultaneously with it though the former may not actually be delivered at that time. ');">21 he has no land. If In the presence of the three of us;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Issur, Mari and Raba. Lit., 'three of them', v. supra 144a. A person may instruct another from whom he claims anything to give it to a third party; and, if all the three are present at the time the instruction was given, the transfer is immediately binding even though the object itself was not with them. ');">22

Teshuvot Maharam

Q. A's father, before his death, deposited his books with B (a trustee) as security for a dowry of twenty-four marks, which he promised his son C. He subsequently paid B eighteen marks, leaving a balance of six marks. C's brother, A, representing his mother, Bruna, now demands that B permit him to redeem his father's books for six marks. B, however, claims that when C demanded the six marks from his mother, she, in payment of that amount, assigned to C a debt of twenty-three pounds D owed her, and pledged the books for that amount. B, therefore, demands twenty-three pounds to be paid to C before he returns the books. A, however, claims that anything paid to C above six marks will constitute usury.
A. B's testimony is accepted without reservation since B is a trustee. According to that testimony, the payment of twenty-three pounds to C would constitute usury. B must, therefore, return the books to A and his mother upon the receipt of six marks. Moreover, the loan of the value of twenty-three pounds never really belonged to C, since a loan can not be legally assigned to a third party.
R. Meir sent substantially the same answer to Rabbi Yedidyah which answer begins as follows: "According to the (record of) claims sent to me by the judges, the widow, Bruna, did not admit that the loan originally belonged to them (to B and C). She claims only to have given them the loan in exchange for the pledges …."
SOURCES: Pr. 985–6; L. 503.

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