Responsa for Bava Batra 93:3
היכי דמי אי אתו בטענתא דאבוהון אפילו הנך נמי לא אי דלא אתו בטענתא דאבוהון אפילו בן גזלן נמי
A metayer has no <i>hazakah</i>, but the son of a metayer has <i>hazakah</i>. Neither a robber nor the son of a robber has <i>hazakah</i>, but the grandson of a robber has <i>hazakah</i>. How are we to interpret this? If [we suppose that] they base their title [solely] on [the possession of] their father, then the son of a craftsman and the son of a metayer should also not have <i>hazakah</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because their title is no better than their father's. ');"><sup>5</sup></span> If again they do not base their title on [the possession of] their fathers [but on claims of their own].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., if they plead. 'I bought it from the claimant.' ');"><sup>6</sup></span>
Teshuvot Maharam
SOURCES: Cr. 46; Pr. 100; L. 368.
Teshuvot Maharam
A. Since his brothers were young when their father died, A cannot claim undisturbed possession as proof of ownership for the period since his father's death, and must furnish documentary proof or witnesses to the effect that he enjoyed undisturbed possession for three years before his father's death.
SOURCES: Pr. 119; cf. Asheri, Sanhedrin 3, 37.
Teshuvot Maharam
A. If A removes his ditch one tefah from B's wall, he is free from further obligation. But even if A does not do so, he is free from any obligation since he inherited the ditch from his father, who, if alive, could claim that he bought the right to maintain the ditch from B. Moreover, A is not required to take an oath to the effect that he never heard his father say that he did not buy from B (or B's father) the right to maintain the ditch for the following reasons: a) Orphans are not required to take an oath in order to free themselves from a money obligation; b) the oath of orphans is a rabbinical decree and the Rabbis did not decree anything disadvantageous to the interests of the orphans.
The fact that A's yard originally belonged to a Gentile, has nothing to do with the case since B does not claim that the Gentile dug the ditch illegally. If B does put forth the claim that the Gentile dug the ditch illegally, it will avail him nothing, since, again, the court will have to put forth the claim, for A's benefit, that A's father bought the right to maintain the ditch from B or B's predecessors.
This Responsum was sent to R. Manahem b. David and R. Hillel b. Azriel of Würzburg (Cr. 23).
SOURCES: Cr. 23; Pr. 143; L. 388; Mord. B. B. 548; Agudah B. M. 180.
Teshuvot Maharam
A. Since B and his sons claim to have received permission to settle in T, and also show three years of undisturbed settlement, they have the right to dwell in T, and to prevent all newcomers from settling in T without their permission. If, however, A proves that B and his sons are informers, the latter cannot claim undisturbed settlement. If only B was proven to be an informer, his sons may still claim undisturbed settlement for themselves if their claim is entirely independent of that of their father.
SOURCES: Cr. 47; Pr. 100; L. 369; Mord. B. B. 532.