Bava Metzia 34

says nothing.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., any legal provision which is based on a general enactment ([H]) 'act of the Court'. Such as e.g., is made for a wife in her marriage-contract, or for the maintenance of wife and children (grown-up-daughters), is as binding as a properly attested obligation entered into in writing by contracting parties. The plea of a defendant in such an action that he has discharged his obligation cannot be accepted unless it is corroborated by witnesses or by other legal evidence. ');">¹</span>

What is the reason? Every act of the Court is regarded as [if it constituted] a document placed in the hand [of the claimant].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The onus of proving that he has discharged his obligations therefore rests on the defendant. ');">²</span>

R. Hiyya b. Abba then said to R. Johanan [himself]: And is not this [implied in] our Mishnah [which says]: If she produces a bill of divorcement unaccompanied by the <i>Kethubah</i>, she may exact payment of [the money due to her in accordance with] her <i>Kethubah</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Keth. 88b. ');">³</span>

[R. Johanan then] answered him: If I had not lifted the sherd for you, you would not have found the pearl underneath.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., 'If I had not stated the law regarding the validity of an act of Court you would not have discovered the reason for the law of the Mishnah cited by you.' ');">⁴</span>

Abaye asked: What pearl [has R. Hiyya b. Abba found]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., is the law of the Mishnah cited by R. Hiyya b. Abba really based on the principle laid down by R. Johanan? ');">⁵</span>

Maybe we deal [in the Mishnah] with a place where a marriage-contract is not [usually] written,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And it is usual to depend on the provision of the Court, so that a husband who has divorced his wife is under an obligation to pay her Kethubah, even if it has not been put in writing, and the husband cannot plead, 'I have paid,' unless he produces a receipt or other legal evidence. ');">⁶</span>

so that her bill of divorcement serves the purpose of a <i>Kethubah</i>, but in a place where a <i>Kethubah</i> is [usually] written [the law would be that] if she produces her <i>Kethubah</i> she may exact payment, but that if [she does] not [produce it she may] not [exact payment]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The husband may plead that he has paid, or he may demand the production of the Kethubah on the ground that if she does not give up the document she may demand payment a second time by producing the document later. ');">⁷</span>

Later Abaye corrected himself: What I said<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the distinction that Abaye made between places where the marriage-contract is usually written and the places where it is not written. ');">⁸</span>

is really no argument; for if you were to assume that the reference [in the Mishnah] is to a place where a <i>Kethubah</i> is not [usually] written, but that in a place where a <i>Kethubah</i> is [usually] written [the law would be that] if she produces her <i>Kethubah</i> she may exact payment, but not if she does not — how would a woman who became a widow after erusin<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] 'Betrothal', v. Glos. I.e., a woman whose betrothed died before the marriage proper ([H] nesu'in) took place. ');">⁹</span>

exact payment?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., of the Kethubah due to her, seeing that no Kethubah is written at erusin, even in the places where it is written at (nesu'in), although the man becomes liable to pay the Kethubah from the time of the erusin. ');">¹⁰</span> If by [the evidence of] witnesses [testifying] to the death of the husband [the latter's heirs] could plead and say: 'She has been paid [already].' And if you will say, 'It is really so,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that the heirs can put forward such a plea. ');">¹¹</span> then what have the Sages achieved by their provision?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' What benefit have the Rabbis bestowed upon the woman by the provision that she is entitled to the Kethubah as soon as she becomes betrothed, seeing that the man's heirs would always he able to claim that she has been paid, without having to produce a receipt? ');">¹²</span> Mar Kashisha, the son of R. Hisda, then said to R. Ashi: And how do we know that a [woman who became a] widow after erusin is entitled to [payment of] the <i>Kethubah</i>?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where is the law stated that erusin entitles a woman to claim the Kethubah just as marriage does? ');">¹³</span> If I should say [that we derive it] from the passage which we learnt: 'A woman who became a widow or was divorced, either after erusin or nesu'in, exacts payment of all [that is due her from her deceased husband]'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Keth. 54b. ');">¹⁴</span> — perhaps [this refers to a case] where [the betrothed man or the husband] had written her [a <i>Kethubah</i>]. And if you will argue: 'What need is there to tell us this?' [I will answer]: In order [to let us know] that we must reject the view of R. Eleazar b. Azariah, who says that he did write her the <i>Kethubah</i> except on condition that he would wed her.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he however died before marriage she is not entitled to the Kethubah. ');">¹⁵</span> It is necessary [to let us know that this is not so].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that if a man writes a Kethubah at the time of erusin he does not make it dependent on the actual marriage taking place. ');">¹⁶</span> It can also be proved [that the Mishnah really deals with a case where there is a written <i>Kethubah</i>], for it says, '[She] exacts payment of all [that is due to her]' — if you agree that [the case is one where the husband] wrote a <i>Kethubah</i>, there is an explanation why [the Mishnah] uses the term, '[She] exacts payment of all [that is due to her].'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., both the legal amount for which the Kethubah is written, viz., one hundred zuz for a widow, and two hundred for a virgin, and the additional amount which a husband may settle on his wife, and which she could claim only if it is expressly written in the Kethubah, but not as a provision of the Rabbis. ');">¹⁷</span> But if you say that he did not write her [a <i>Kethubah</i>],