daf bit: Bava Batra 52

[cellio]

Earlier in this tractate the talmud discussed that it takes three years to take possession of someone else's property by occupying it. Now the mishna tells us: this rule of three years applies only to occupiers, but not to recipients of a gift or an inheritance (or those taking the property of a deceased proseylte, which is more complicated and I'm hand-waving it away today). The g'mara explains that the rule of three years applies when the acquirer has to make a plea -- if the original owner says "I did not sell it" and the occupier says "I bought it", that's an example of needing to make a plea and thus requiring three years. But a claim requires no plea in the case of a gift or an inheritance;, and all the occupier has to do to establish his claim is to start to build a fence or a door. (A modern equivalent might be changing the locks.) The g'mara then goes on to discuss how much he has to build in order for it to count. (52b)

Today's daf is 53.