Responsa for Bava Metzia 157:10
במאי קמיפלגי רב סבר לא מכלינן קרנא ושמואל סבר מכלינן קרנא
An objection is raised: If the tree withered or was broken down, both are forbidden to use it. What then shall be done? Land must be bought therewith, and he takes the usufruct.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The reference is to a mortgage. If a tree was mortgaged, it being agreed that the creditor should enjoy its usufruct for a number of years, after which it would revert to the debtor without any further payment, and then it withered, ceasing to yield, or was overthrown by a storm, neither the creditor nor the debtor may use up the wood thereof, because each thereby wholly destroys the other's interest therein. Therefore the wood must be sold and land bought with the proceeds, of which the creditor takes the usufruct in accordance with the original agreement. ');"><sup>9</sup></span>
Maharach Or Zarua Responsa
A - B must return the money he received. He is not entitled to receive for the remaining time, even the wages paid an idle worker, since he encountered no loss.
Teshuvot Maharam
A. Since A admits that C had the right to lease the house to anyone he pleased, A cannot evict B from the widow's house.
SOURCES: Cr. 259; Pr. 680; Mord. B. M. 357; Agudah B. M. 125. Cf. Hag. Maim. to Sekirut 5, 20; Weil, Responsa 10.
Teshuvot Maharam
Q. A has no legal claim against B though he does have a claim against the community. Not having been asked regarding A's case against the community, I shall refrain from passing judgment thereon. Should the discussion that follows reveal any just claims A may have against the community, I rely on you not to disclose them to A, lest the community accuse me of encouraging claimants and inciting them against the community thus damaging its interests. It seems, however, that if A could have obtained another position, had he not been engaged by the community of T, and now can no longer obtain that, or a similar, position, the community ought to pay A the wages of an "idle laborer" (i. e. the wages a cantor would be willing to accept for abstaining from practicing his profession for a given period). But, if A is able to obtain another position even now, he has no legal claim against the community, though he has cause for reproof. Should the latter position require more effort than the position with the community of T, if there be also an increase in remuneration commensurate with the increase in effort, the community of T would be free from obligation to A; otherwise, the community of T would have to compensate A for the increase in effort. In any event, A has no legal claim against B, though he has cause for reproof, and the latter may perhaps be called "wicked".
SOURCES: Cr. 292; Am II, 234; B. p. 298 no. 392.