Bava Batra

until [the buyer] has pulled it,  or until he has hired the place it occupies!  — This is no difficulty. [Rabbi] here [where mesirah is sufficient] refers to the case of a ship in public territory;  [the Tanna] there [where meshikah is required] deals with the case of a ship in an alley [adjoining a public place]. How have you explained the last [mentioned Baraitha? That it speaks of a ship] in reshuth harabbim! Read [then] the last clause: 'And the sages say: It  is not acquired until [the buyer] has pulled it or until he has hired the place it occupies'. Now, if [the ship is] in reshuth harabbim, from whom could he hire [the place]? Furthermore, can legal ownership be acquired in reshuth harabbim by meshikah? Surely both Abaye and Raba stated:  Mesirah  confers legal ownership in reshuth harabbim  or in a court-yard which belongs to neither of them;  meshikah  confers ownership in an alley  or in a court-yard owned by both of them; and lifting  confers ownership everywhere!  What is really the meaning of the expressions,  until [the buyer] has pulled it' and 'until he has hired the place it occupies'? — [They mean] 'Until [the buyer] has pulled it]' out from the reshuth harabbim into an alley; and, if the place is the property of the owner,  he does not acquire ownership  'until he has hired the place it occupies'. Must it [then] be said that Abaye and Raba  follow Rabbi  [and not the Rabbis  who are the majority]? — R. Ashi said: If the [seller] told him,  'Go, take possession and acquire', even [the Rabbis would say] so.  Here, however, we deal with a case when [the seller] said to him, 'Go, pull and acquire' — The Rabbis hold the opinion that [by this expression he] intimated his objection  [to any other mode of taking possession] and the other  holds the opinion that [by this]  he was merely indicating to him a [suitable] place. R. Papa said: He who sells a bond to his friend must also give him in writing [the following statement]: 'Acquire it and all rights  contained therein'. R. Ashi said: When I quoted this law  in the presence of R. Kahana I said unto him: '[possession of the debt is acquired accordingly] only because he has written for him in this manner, but had he not so written, no possession would be acquired, — does one then require [a bond] to use as a stopple for his bottle?'  He said unto me: 'Yes, just  to use it as a stopple.'