Yevamot

Our Rabbis taught: A halizah under a false assumption  is valid.  What is meant by 'a halizah under a false assumption'? Resh Lakish explained: Where a levir is told, 'Submit to halizah and you will thereby wed her'. Said R. Johanan to him:  I am in the habit of repeating a Baraitha, 'Whether he  had the intention  [of performing the commandment of halizah] and she had no such intention, or whether she had such intention and he had not, her halizah is invalid, it being necessary  that both shall at the same time have such intention',  and you say that her halizah is valid!  But [in fact this is the meaning]:  When a levir is told, 'Submit to her halizah on the condition that she gives you two hundred zuz'. So it was also taught [elsewhere]: A halizah under a false assumption is valid; and what is meant by a halizah under a false assumption? One in which the levir is told 'Submit to her halizah on condition that she gives you two hundred zuz'. Such an incident, in fact, occurred with a woman who fell to the lot of an unworthy levir who was told, 'Submit to her halizah on condition that she gives you two hundred zuz'. When this case came before R. Hiyya he ruled that the halizah was valid. A woman  once came before R. Hiyya b. Abba.  'Stand up,  my daughter', the Rabbi said to her. 'Her sitting is her standing',  replied her mother.  'Do you know this man?'  the Rabbi asked. 'Yes', she answered him, 'it is her money that he saw and he would like to it'.  'Do you not like him then?' he asked the woman.  'No', she replied. 'Submit to her halizah', [the Rabbi] said to [the levir], 'and you will thereby wed her'. After the latter had submitted to halizah at her hands he said to him, 'Now she is ineligible to marry you; submit again to a proper halizah that she may be permitted to marry a stranger'. A daughter of R. Papa's father-in-law fell to the lot of a levir who was unworthy of her.  When [the levir] came before Abaye the latter said to him, 'Submit to her halizah and you will thereby wed her'. Said R. Papa to him, 'Does not the Master accept the [relevant] ruling of R. Johanan?'  — 'What then could I tell him?' [the other asked]. 'Tell him', the first replied, '"submit to her halizah on condition that she gives you two hundred zuz."' After [the levir] had submitted to halizah at her hand [Abaye] said to her,  'Go and give him [the stipulated sum]'.  'She', R. Papa replied, 'was merely fooling him';  was it not, in fact taught: If a man escaping from prison beheld a ferry boat and said [to the ferryman], 'Take a denar and lead me across',  [the latter] can only claim his ordinary fare.  From this then it is evident that the one can say to the other, 'I was merely fooling you'; so here also  [the woman may say], 'I was merely fooling you'. 'Where is your father?'  [Abaye] asked him. — 'In town', the other replied. 'Where is your mother?'  — 'In town', the other again replied. He set his eyes upon them and they died. Our Rabbis taught:  A halizah under a false assumption is valid; a letter of divorce [given] under a false assumption is invalid.  A halizah under coercion is invalid; a letter of divorce [given] under compulsion is valid. How is this  to be understood? If it is a case where the man [ultimately]  says, 'I am willing', the halizah also [should be valid]; and if he does not say, 'I am willing', a letter of divorce also should not [be valid]! — It is this that was meant: A halizah under a false assumption is always valid, and a letter of divorce [given] on a false assumption is always invalid; but a halizah under coercion and a letter of divorce [given] under coercion are sometimes valid and sometimes invalid, the former when the man [ultimately]  declared, 'I am willing', and the latter, when he did not declare, 'I am willing'. For it was taught: He shall offer it  teaches that the man is coerced.  It might [be assumed that the sacrifice may be offered up] against his will, it was, therefore, expressly stated, In accordance with his will.  How then [are the two texts to be reconciled]? He is subjected to pressure until he says, 'I am willing'. And so you find in the case of letters of divorce for women: The man  is subjected to pressure until he says, 'I am willing'. Raba reported in the name of R. Sehora in the name of R. Huna: Halizah may be arranged even though [the parties]  are unknown  A declaration of refusal  may be arranged even though the parties  are unknown.  For this reason  no certificate of halizah may be written  unless the parties are known,  and no certificate of mi'un  may be written  unless the parties are known,  for fear of an erring Beth din. Raba in his own name, however, stated: halizah must not be arranged unless the parties  are known,  nor may a declaration of refusal  be heard unless the parties  are known.  For this reason  it is permissible  to write a certificate of halizah  even though the parties are not known,  and it is also permissible  to write a certificate of mi'un  even though the parties are not known,  and we are not afraid of an erring Beth din.