Bava Metzia 17 continues a discussion of who is considered a liar and thus is not believed to when he states that he made a payment or took an oath outside of the presence of witnesses.
In discussing this issue, the gemara sheds light on the different forms of directions which can come from a beis din. On the very bottom of Bava Metzia 16b the gemara introduces a scenario where beis din says "Tzei ten lo" - (meaning "go and give him"). The defendant then comes to beis din and says - I paid. The gemara relates that he is generally believed provided that he takes a shvuas heses. However, if beis din says "Chayav ata liten lo" - (meaning "you are obligated to pay him"), if the defendant says that he made the payment he is not believed.
Tosafos (d'h Chayav) explains that we learn from this gemara that Chayav ata liten lo is not the final psak of beis din that payment must be made. The final directive to pay only comes when beis din says "Tzei ten lo."
When giving over the daf to my group this evening, I analogized this to the situation under New York practice where Judges will decide a motion, but still require that a judgment be settled on notice. [Since three of the four people present at the time were lawyers this was a very easy sell].
Often times a Judge will determine a motion for summary judgment and rule that the Plaintiff is entitled to $__. However, the Judge will direct that the prevailing party submit a judgment on notice to all sides and only when that judgment has been entered is there a requirement that payment be made.
If you have seen this post being carried on another site such as JBlog, please feel free to click here to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
No comments:
Post a Comment