If two partners own something that is indivisible, can one partner force the other partner to either by his share or sell his share (דִּינָא דְּ"גוּד, אוֹ אֶגּוּד")? For example, I’ve known brothers who owned a sailboat. After a while one brother no longer wants to go sailing at all, can he force his brother to purchase his half of the sailboat?
“Rav
Yehuda said: There is a halakha of: Either you set a price or
I will set a price (גוּד, אוֹ אֶגּוּד).
That is to say, one party can say to the other: Set a price you are willing to
pay for my share, and I will sell my share to you or purchase your share from
you at that price. Rav Naḥman said: There is no halakha of:
Either you set a price or I will set a price; rather, the
partnership continues.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Although “Ameimar
said: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rav Yehuda
that there is a halakha of: Either you set a price or I
will set a price” (Sefaria.org translation), the Gemara limits the
application of this rule. For the rule of “Either you set a price or
I will set a price (גוּד, אוֹ אֶגּוּד),”
to apply both parties must be in the financial position to purchase the item.
The Gemara provides the following example.
“If the
father had built them (a
bathhouse or an olive press-gg) for himself and for the members
of his household to use, the poor brother, who has little use for these
amenities, cannot force the rich brother to convert the facilities to
commercial use; rather, the rich brother can say to the poor
brother: Go take servants for yourself, and they will bathe in the
bathhouse. Or he can say: Go take olives for yourself and come and
transform them into oil in the olive press. Evidently, the poor
brother cannot say to him: Buy my share. The Gemara rejects this proof: There
too the poor brother can say: You set a price and buy my share, as
the rich brother has the means to buy his poor brother’s portion; but he is not
able to say: Or else I will set a price and buy your share, as the poor
brother does not have the money to buy his brother out.” (Sefaria.org translation)
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