Talmud for Bava Batra 199:3
לרבי אליעזר רבים גזלנים נינהו אמר רב גידל אמר רב כגון שאבדה להן דרך באותה שדה
for themselves, that which they have chosen is theirs.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'chosen' ('Er. 94a); and the owner of the land cannot raise any objection to their use of the path. ');"><sup>5</sup></span> [May, then], the public, according to R. Eliezer, act as robbers? — R. Giddal replied in the name of Rab: [R. Eliezer speaks of] a case where their path had been lost in that field.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' While an individual could not in a similar case make the choice without the consent of the landowner or without the authority of the court, the public have a right to choose the path they like. ');"><sup>6</sup></span>
Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin
This does not follow Rebbi Eliezer, for Rebbi Eliezer said that walking acquires, as it was stated: 344Babli Baba batra 100a. One assumes either that the field is ownerless or that the acquirer has a claim of possession that would give him squatter’s rights; cf. Ketubot 5:5, Note 100.
In R. Eliezer’s opinion, the rules of acquisition of a Canaanite slave are not identical with those for real estate; he will reject deriving legal rules from a verse in the Prophets. If one walked across a field in length and breadth, he acquired up to the place he walked to, the words of Rebbi Eliezer. But the Sages say that he did not acquire up to the moment he acted in possession345He performed some agricultural work on the property.. Everybody agrees that if somebody sells a path to another, when the latter went, he acquired. What is the reason? “Arise, walk in the Land in length and breadth, for I shall give it to you.346Gen. 13:17.”
In R. Eliezer’s opinion, the rules of acquisition of a Canaanite slave are not identical with those for real estate; he will reject deriving legal rules from a verse in the Prophets. If one walked across a field in length and breadth, he acquired up to the place he walked to, the words of Rebbi Eliezer. But the Sages say that he did not acquire up to the moment he acted in possession345He performed some agricultural work on the property.. Everybody agrees that if somebody sells a path to another, when the latter went, he acquired. What is the reason? “Arise, walk in the Land in length and breadth, for I shall give it to you.346Gen. 13:17.”
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