daf bit: Bava Metzia 24

[cellio]

Some found items belong to the finder; others must be announced so that the owner has a chance to reclaim them. In a mishna a few pages back, R' Meir listed items that the finder can keep: scattered fruit, scattered coins, small sheaves in a public thoroughfare, round cakes of pressed figs, baker's loaves, strings of fishes, pieces of meat, fleeces of wool brought from the countryside, bundles of flax. R' Yehudah, however, said that anything with something unusual about it cannot be kept (for example a loaf of bread containing money).

That was Monday. The next mishna, on today's daf, considers the other side, saying that the following must always be announced: fruit in a vessel (or a vessel by itself), money in a purse (or a purse by itself), heaps of fruit (that is, it was placed not dropped), heaps of coins, three coins stacked, bundles of sheaves in private premises, home-made loaves, fleeces of wool from the craftsman's workshop, jars of wine, jars of oil. (21a, 24b)

What are the principles at play here? One is identifiability; there is no way to prove ownership of scattered coins and all baker's loaves look the same. Another is intent; items neatly stacked, even if in small quantity, were put there, so we presume that the owner is coming back for them. Another is whether, upon learning that he's lost something, a person searches for it or gives up hope of recovery. (The rabbis say that small sheaves in the public road get trampled and destroyed, so people just accept the loss.)

I expect value to play in here too, but if so I'm surprised that a finder can keep (many) scattered coins but must announce a mere three if stacked, and that a finder can keep meat and fish but must announce an empty purse. But there's a lot of g'mara here that I haven't learned yet, so maybe this is addressed.

Comments

[richardf8]

Meat and Fish are subject to anticipatory ye'ush because the loser assumes they will have spoiled by the time he finds them.

[cellio]

Oh, thanks -- that makes sense, just like the sheaf that would have been trampled by the time you find it again.