Buyer protection plan TB Baba Kama 8

 Here is some background information we need to know. A person whose property is damaged collects from the superior quality of land (עִידִּית). A creditor collects for the dead owed from the middle quality of land (בְּבֵינוֹנִית). A woman collects from the amount stipulated in the  ketubah from the lowest quality land (זִיבּוּרִית). There is a possibility that the creditor may not be able to collect the debt from the quality of land due him.

“The Sages taught in the Tosefta (Ketubot 12:3):..If he sold his plots of land one after the other, all the creditors collect from the last buyer, regardless of the quality of the land he purchased. If that buyer does not have sufficient land purchased from the debtor to pay all the debts, the creditors take the land he has and collect the remaining sums from the one who purchased land before him, and if he also does not have sufficient land, they collect the rest from the one before the one before him, i.e., the first buyer. The Sages instituted that creditors may not collect from land that a debtor sold, even though it is technically still liened to them, as long as the debtor still has sufficient means with which to repay the debt (see Gittin 48b). Accordingly, after the sale of the first plot of land, the creditors’ rights to collect are restricted to the land that remains in the possession of the debtor, and consequently they gain a lien on it, irrespective of its quality. Therefore, even if that land is subsequently sold, their rights to collect are restricted to that land, and only if the value of that land is insufficient to cover the cost of the debt may they utilize the original liens they had on the plots of land that were sold first.” (Sefaia.org translation)

There is a case when a person may buy one after the other three lots a land that has liens on it, and would be obligated to pay every type of creditor from the superior quality of land. “This is a case where the individual buyer purchased the superior-quality land last. Accordingly, the buyer is satisfied with allowing each creditor to collect from the land that was previously liened to him, rather than having them each collect from the superior-quality land. And so says Rav Sheshet: It is a case where the individual buyer purchased the superior-quality land last. The Gemara asks: If that is so, let them all come and collect from the superior-quality land, as their rights to collect should be restricted to it, since it was purchased last.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Having all the creditors collect from the superior quality land is unfair. The purchaser would lose when a creditor holding a debt and/or a woman collecting her ketubah comes forward collecting what is owed them because they would collect from the superior quality of land instead of the quality of land that is due them.

The Gemara shares a solution the purchaser could say to protect his superior quality lot. “The Gemara answers: Because he can say the following threat to them: If you are silent and do not insist on collecting from the superior-quality land, and take the land of a quality that is due to you according to your standard legal rights, as in a case where you collect directly from the debtor, i.e., the injured party will collect from the superior-quality land, the creditor from the intermediate-quality land, and the woman will collect her marriage contract from the inferior-quality land, then take that land and I will allow you to do so. But if not, and you insist on taking the superior-quality land that I purchased last, then I will return the bill of sale of the inferior-quality land to its prior owner, i.e., the debtor, and you will all be forced to collect from the inferior-quality land, because whenever the debtor has land in his possession you are able to collect the debts only from him.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The rabbis’ buyer protection program is not obligatory. “The Gemara suggests another explanation of the Tosefta: Rather, not all the creditors collect from the superior-quality land, which was the last plot of land purchased from the debtor, because the buyer can say to them: What is the reason that the Sages said one is not paid from liened property, i.e., property liened to a creditor that has been sold by the debtor, whenever there is unsold property still in the debtor’s possession? It is due to an ordinance created solely for my benefit, as I should not be expected to pay from the land I purchased when the debtor is still able to pay. If that ordinance were to be in effect in this case, all of their liens would be in effect with regard to the superior-quality land, as that was purchased last. In this case I do not find this ordinance satisfactory to me, and I would prefer for the lien of each creditor to remain in effect with regard to the land it had been on initially, and I will give each of you that land.” (Sefaria.org translation)