Bava Batra 45

אתו אומני ויתבי תותייהו ואתו עורבי אכלי דמא וסלקי אבי תאלי ומפסדי תמרי אמר להו רב יוסף אפיקו לי קורקור מהכא א"ל אביי והא גרמא הוא אמר ליה הכי אמר רב טובי בר מתנה זאת אומרת גרמא בניזקין אסור

under which cuppers used to sit [and let blood], and ravens used to collect to suck up the blood, and they used to fly on to the date trees and damage them. So R. Joseph said to the cuppers. 'Take away your croakers from here.' Said Abaye to him, 'But they are only the indirect cause?' — He replied: 'R. Tobi bar Mattanah has expressly said: This is equivalent to saying that it is prohibited to cause damage indirectly.' But [R. Joseph] had given them a right [to let blood under the trees]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Either (a) by allowing them to do so for three years without protest. or (b) by selling them the ground under the trees. V. Tosaf. ');">¹</span> — R. Nahman has said in the name of Rabbah b. Abbuha; There is no legal title to things causing damage.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. infra p. 116 ');">²</span>

והא אחזיק [להו] הא אמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה אין חזקה לנזקין ולאו איתמר עלה רב מרי אמר בקוטרא ורב זביד אמר בבית הכסא אמר ליה הני לדידי דאנינא דעתאי כי קוטרא ובית הכסא דמו לי:

But are we not told in a gloss on this statement that R. Mari says it refers [for instance] to smoke, and R. Zebid to a privy?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which are both irritating and offensive. ');">³</span> — Said R. Joseph to him, 'I am very sensitive, and these ravens are as offensive to me as smoke or a privy.'

<big><strong>מתני׳</strong></big> מרחיקין את השובך מן העיר חמשים אמה ולא יעשה אדם שובך בתוך שלו אלא אם כן יש לו חמשים אמה לכל רוח רבי יהודה אומר בית ארבעת כורין מלא שגר היונה ואם לקחו אפילו בית רובע הרי הוא בחזקתו:

<b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. A PIGEON COTE MUST BE KEPT FIFTY CUBITS FROM A TOWN.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that the pigeons should not eat the seeds of the vegetable gardens, or those spread on the roofs (Tosaf.). ');">⁴</span> A MAN SHOULD NOT PUT UP A PIGEON COTE ON HIS OWN ESTATE UNLESS THERE IS A CLEAR SPACE OF FIFTY CUBITS ALL ROUND. R. JUDAH SAYS, THE SPACE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE SOWING OF FOUR <i>KOR</i>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e. one Beth-Kor on each side. A Beth. Kor (space for the sowing of a kor) = 7500 square cubits. ');">⁵</span>

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> חמשים אמה ותו לא ורמינהי אין פורסין נשבין ליונים אלא אם כן היה רחוק מן הישוב שלשים ריס

WHICH IS AS MUCH AS A BIRD FLIES AT A TIME. IF, HOWEVER, HE BUYS IT [FROM ANOTHER] WITH ONLY THE SPACE FOR SOWING A QUARTER OF A <i>KAB</i> ROUND IT,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' About 105 square cubits. ');">⁶</span> HE HAS A RIGHT TO KEEP IT.

אמר אביי מישט שייטי טובא וכרסייהו בחמשים אמתא מליא ומישט שלשים ריס ותו לא והתניא ובישוב אפילו מאה מיל לא יפרוס רב יוסף אמר בישוב כרמים

<b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. No more than fifty cubits? — Does not this contradict the following: 'Snares may be spread for pigeons only at a distance of thirty <i>ris</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' About four miles. ');">⁷</span> from a Yishub [town or village]'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For fear that he may snare pigeons belonging to others. V. B.K. 79b. ');">⁸</span>

רבא אמר בישוב שובכין ותיפוק ליה משום שובכין גופייהו איבעית אימא דידיה ואיבעית אימא דכנעני ואיבעית אימא דהפקר:

— Abaye replied: pigeons cover much ground. but they eat their fill within fifty cubits of their starting point. And do they fly no further than thirty <i>ris</i>?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This question has reference to the rule about snares, not to the rule about dovecotes. ');">⁹</span> Has it not been taught: 'Where there are towns and villages. nets should not be spread even within a hundred miles'? — R. Joseph said: This means, where there is a succession of vineyards;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that the birds can fly from one to another. ');">¹⁰</span>

רבי יהודה אומר בית ארבעת כורין וכו': אמר רב פפא ואיתימא רב זביד זאת אומרת טוענין ללוקח וטוענין ליורש

Raba said: It means, where there is a succession of pigeon cotes.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that the birds can fly from one to another. ');">¹⁰</span> Then should not the prohibition be laid down because of the pigeon cotes themselves?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And not because of the pigeons of a town. ');">¹¹</span>

יורש תנינא הבא משום ירושה אינו צריך טענה לוקח איצטריכא ליה לוקח נמי תנינא לקח חצר ובה זיזין וגזוזטראות הרי זה בחזקתה

— If you like I can answer that they [the intermediate cotes] belong to [the man who sets the snares] himself; and if you like that they belong to heathens,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. B.K. Mishnah 37b. (Sonc. ed.). ');">¹²</span> and if you like that they are no-one's property.

צריכא דאי אשמעינן התם גבי רשות הרבים דאימור כונס לתוך שלו הוא אי נמי אחולי אחול בני רשות הרבים גביה אבל הכא לא

R. JUDAH SAYS THE SPACE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE SOWING OF FOUR… HE HAS A RIGHT etc. R. papa [or, according to others, R. Zebid] said: This implies that the <i>Beth Din</i> may plead the cause<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if a man inherits a property from his father and another man claims it, if it is proved that the father occupied it for three years, the Beth-Din can plead on behalf of the heir that the father had originally bought it from the man, whereas they would not do so for the father, if he did not put forward the plea on his own account. Similarly with a man who has bought a field which is then claimed by a third party. ');">¹³</span> of an heir and may plead the cause of a purchaser. But we have already learnt the rule about the heir in the following statement: 'He who claims [a property] qua heir has no need to plead [that his father bought the property]'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because, if the father has occupied it three years. the Beth-Din assume this without his pleading it. V. infra 410. ');">¹⁴</span>

ואי אשמעינן הכא דכיון דיחיד הוא אימא פיוסיה פייסיה אי נמי אחולי אחיל גביה אבל רבים מאן פייס ומאן שביק אימא לא צריכא:

— The point of R. Zebid's statement lies in the reference to the purchaser. But in regard to the purchaser also we have learnt that 'if a man buys a courtyard in which are beams and balconies projecting over the main thoroughfare, he has a legal right to retain them'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Infra 60a. Which is exactly similar to the rule laid down here, that the purchaser has a right to retain the dovecotes. Why then should both statements be made? ');">¹⁵</span> — Both statements are necessary. For if I had only the statement regarding the main thoroughfare to go by, I should say that the reason there [for allowing the right to stand] is because the courtyard had been originally drawn back from the main thoroughfare [to allow room for the projection], or that the public had waived its right<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to Tosaf., through the 'seven headmen of the town', the boni viri, at a public meeting. ');">¹⁶</span>

הרי הוא בחזקתו: והא אמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה אין חזקה לנזקין רב מרי אמר בקוטרא רב זביד אמר בבית הכסא:

[to have them removed] in his favour, but this reason would not apply here [to the pigeon cote]. And if I had only the statement here, I would say that the reason is because, having only an individual to deal with, the owner obtained his consent, or that the other waived his right in his favour, but in the case of the public, who is there to consent and who is there to allow? Hence both statements are required. HE HAS A RIGHT TO KEEP IT. But has not R. Nahman said in the name of Rabbah b. Abbuha that there is no legal title to things which cause damage? — R. Mari replied that this applies to such a thing as smoke; R. Zebid, to such a thing as a privy.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 115. n. 1. But a pigeon cote is in a different category. ');">¹⁷</span>