What do you do with an IOU found on the street? TB Baba Metzia 12-13

A standard IOU document has this information: the name of the lender, the name of the borrower, the date of the loan, the place of the loan, and the signature of witnesses. Rabbi Meir and the Sages in the Mishna on daf TB Baba Metzia 12 disagree about liens. Rabbi Meir holds that if the document does not include property guarantee, is not part of the loan agreement. The Sages hold that all loans have property guarantee. When it is missing they just ascribe it to a scribal error.

Rabbi Meir in the Mishna teaches “With regard to one who found promissory notes, if they include a property guarantee for the loan he may not return them to the creditor, as, if he were to return them, the court would then use them to collect repayment of the debts from land that belonged to the debtor at the time of the loan, even if that land was subsequently sold to others. ” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Gemara answers the question why don’t we return the found IOU that includes a property guarantee for the loan to the creditor when the borrower admits he owes the money. “It is that we are concerned that perhaps the debtor wrote in the promissory note that he would borrow the money in Nisan but he did not actually borrow the money until Tishrei, and between Nisan and Tishrei (6 months later-gg) he sold land. These lands are not liened to the debt, as the liability to repay the loan took effect only when he actually borrowed the money. And the creditor will come to repossess the land that was sold between Nisan and Tishrei from the purchasers, unlawfully.” (Sefaria.org translation)

“The Gemara asks: But with regard to that which we learned in a mishna (Baba Batra 167b): One may write a promissory note for a borrower even if the lender is not with him because it is the borrower who assumes liability based on the note, the question arises: How can one write this promissory note ab initio? Let us be concerned that perhaps the borrower wants to write the note as he intends to borrow money in Nisan, but will ultimately not borrow the money until Tishrei, and the lender might then come to repossess the land that the borrower sells between Nisan and Tishrei from the purchasers, unlawfully.

“Rav Asi said: This mishna is referring not to one who finds an ordinary promissory note but to one who finds deeds of transfer (שְׁטָרֵי הַקְנָאָה). This refers to a promissory note that establishes a lien on the debtor’s property from the date the note is written, regardless of when he borrows the money. Because the debtor obligated himself from that date, the creditor has the legal right to repossess his land from any subsequent purchasers.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rav Asi doesn’t have a problem with the two mishnayot. Our Mishna is talking about an IOU that isn’t a deed of transfer and it never would have been written without the lender present. When it is found on the ground, this IOU become suspicious and is turned over to the court instead of the lender. The Mishna in Baba Batra is a deed of transfer.

Abaye has a different understanding. “Abaye stated an alternative explanation of the mishna that allows one to write a promissory note for a borrower in the absence of the lender: The document’s witnesses, with their signatures, acquire the lender’s lien on the borrower’s land on the lender’s behalf, despite the fact that the loan did not occur yet. And this applies even with regard to promissory notes that are not deeds of transfer.” (Sefaria.org translation)

If witnesses signature acquire the lender’s lien on the borrows land, how does Abaye explained that our Mishna says not to return the IOU to the lender. He says that we turn the IOU to the court because we are afraid of organized crime (קְנוּנְיָא). “The Gemara answers that Abaye could have said to you that this is the reason for the ruling in the mishna: It is that the tanna suspects that there was repayment and collusion. Although the debtor admits his debt, he is suspected to be lying, as after he repaid the debt he might have colluded with the creditor to repossess land that he sold during the period of the loan, and the debtor and creditor would split the money between them.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Shmuel understands our Mishna when the “borrower” absolutely denies that he ever took out a loan and the IOU is a forgery. The IOU is turned over to the court last the lender seizes unencumbered land when he claims the borrower fail to pay his debt.