Responsa for Yevamot 184:10
ואי ר"ע כי אמר לה לאחר שיחלוץ ליך יבמיך ליתפסי בה קידושי דהא שמעינן ליה לרבי עקיבא דאמר אדם מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם דתנן
Resh Lakish said to him:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Johanan. ');"><sup>35</sup></span> Had not a great man praised you. I would have told you that the Mishnah [you cited represents the view] of R. Akiba who maintains that betrothal with those who are subject to the penalties of a negative precept is invalid.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Marriage of a sister-in-law by a stranger before she has performed halizah with the levir is forbidden by such a negative precept. This Mishnah, therefore, provides no proof, like the statement of R. Jannai, that the Rabbis also admit invalidity in such a case. ');"><sup>36</sup></span> If [this Mishnah, however, represents the view of] R. Akiba, betrothal [with the sister-in-law]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'with', or 'in her'. ');"><sup>37</sup></span> should be valid where [the stranger] said to her, 'after thy brother-in-law shall have submitted to thy halizah', since R. Akiba has been heard to state that one may transfer possession of that which is not yet in existence;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Consequently. the betrothal here, though it was dependent on a future event which had not yet taken place. should also be valid. ');"><sup>38</sup></span> for we learned:
Teshuvot Maharam
A. Since B has been prevented, by death, from fulfilling his promise, he never became obligated to pay the 20*In some sources (Pr. 50, L. 355) the reading is “marks.” The discrepancy arose because of the similarity of the two Hebrew letters of Khaf and Beth, which stand for 20 and 2 respectively. The Cremona source and the Mord., however, used the word Esrim, 20, specifically. marks to A. Consequently his heirs owe nothing to A.
This question was also sent to R. Meir by his father, R. Baruch, who was one of the judges in this case.
SOURCES: Cr. 31; Pr. 50; Pr. 939; L. 355; Mord. B.M. 247; cf. Jacob Weil, Responsa 105; ibid. 142.