Sanhedrin

A man once hid witnesses against his neighbour behind the curtains of his bed, and said to him: 'You owe me a maneh'. 'Yes', he replied. 'May all present, whether awake or asleep be witnesses against you? he asked  'No', was the reply. R. Kahanah [before whom the trial was brought] observed; Surely he answered, No! A man hid witnesses against his neighbour in a grave, and then said to him: 'you owe me a maneh. 'Yes' he answered. 'Shall the living and the dead be witnesses against you?' 'No', he retorted. Said R. Simeon [b. Lakish]: Surely he answered, No! Rabina, or some say R. Papa, said: We may infer from the above, that the dictum of Rab Judah in Rab's name, viz., One must definitely instruct them: 'You are my witnesses,' holds good no matter whether the debtor says it, or the creditor says it while the debtor remains silent. For it  is only because the debtor said, 'no'.  but had he kept silent, it would indeed have been so. A certain man was nicknamed, 'A kab-ful of indebtedness.' [On hearing the name,] he exclaimed: 'To whom do I owe anything but to so and so and so and so?' Thereupon they summoned him before R. Nahman. Said he: A man is wont to disclaim abundance [of wealth]. A certain man was nicknamed, 'The mouse lying on the denarii.'  Before he died, he declared: 'I owe money to so and so and to so and so.' After his death they summoned his heirs before R. Ishmael son of R. Jose. Said he to them:  The dictum, 'A man is wont to disclaim abundance [of wealth],' holds good only in life, but not in death.  They paid half, and were summoned for the other half, before R. Hiyya. Said he to them: Just as one is wont to disclaim his own abundance [of wealth], so he is likely to disclaim it for his children.  Thereupon they [the plaintiffs] asked: 'Shall we return [the half we have already received]?' R. Hiyya replied: The Zaken  has already given his ruling. If a man admitted [a claim] in the presence of two witnesses, and they confirmed this by Kinyan,  they may indite [a note],  if not, they may not do so.  [If he admitted] it in the presence of three, and they made no Kinyan: Rab [Ammi]  said, They may write a note;  R. Assi ruled, They may not. There was a case once where Rab took into consideration R. Assi's ruling. R. Adda b. Ahabah said: Sometimes a deed of acknowledgment  may be drawn up; sometimes it may not. If they [the witnesses] merely happened to be assembled [when he made the admission,] it may not be drawn up; but if he [the debtor] called them together, it is to be drawn up. Raba said: Even then it may not be indited, unless he definitely told them, 'Be you my judges.'  Mar son of R. Ashi said: Even then, it may not be drawn up, unless the [necessary] meeting place is fixed and he [the debtor] is summoned to appear before the court. If a man admitted a claim of movable property, and they [the witnesses] secured a formal title from him, they may record it; but not otherwise. But what if it concerned real estate, and they secured no formal title? — Amemar said: They may not record it. Mar Zutra said: They may. The law is that a deed is to be drawn up. Rabina once happened to be at Damharia,  and R. Dimi son of R. Huna of that town asked him: What of movable property which is still intact [i.e., in the possession of the debtor]? — He answered: It ranks as real estate.  R. Ashi, however, ruled: Since it still needs collection, it is not so. A certain deed of [debt] acknowledgment did not contain the phrase: 'He said unto us, Write it, attest it and give it to him [the creditor].'  Abaye and Raba both said: This case comes under the ruling of Resh Lakish, who said: We may take it for granted that witnesses will not sign a document unless he [the vendor] has attained his majority.  R. Papi — others say, R. Huna the son of R. Joshua — objected: Can there be anything which we [the judges] do not know, and yet the clerks of the court know?  But in fact when the clerks of Abaye's court were questioned, they were found to know this law, and similarly the clerks of Raba's court. A certain deed of acknowledgment contained the phrase; 'A memorial of judicial proceedings,'