Siman 219

One who says to his fellow, "This specific field I am selling to you," he has acquired it all even if it is very large, even though he did not define the boundaries, as long as there is no boundary intervening. And when he defines boundaries for him, even if he only defined for him the eastern boundary and the western boundary and did not mention the northern and southern, he has acquired the entire field. And we do not say that he did not sell him the field at all but rather one furrow in the east and one furrow in the west when they contain the measure of a field explained in siman 171, for the matters are recognizable that he sold him the entire field and was brief in the boundaries; and they measure from the edges of the east and west, and everything that is within the boundaries he has acquired. And this is superior to if he had defined three boundaries for him, where it will be explained that the fourth boundary itself he did not acquire, for here it is recognizable that his intention was to be brief [Sma].

If he delineated for him the first boundary, the second boundary, and the third boundary, but did not delineate the fourth boundary, he has acquired the entire field with the boundaries in any case, but the fourth boundary itself he has not acquired. For this is the effect of not delineating it; for if he had intended to shorten the description, he should only have mentioned two boundaries, specifically the two boundaries opposite one another. In what case is it said that he did not acquire the fourth boundary? When it is not swallowed between the boundaries on either side, but rather runs across both of them, and it has upon it a "rekhev dekalim," which is the grafting of many palm trees, or if it contains nine kabin; for when it is so, it is a significant matter in its own right and is not sold as part of the field. But if it was swallowed between the boundaries and does not have upon it a "rekhev dekalim," and also does not contain nine kabin, it is nullified relative to the field and he has acquired it as well. And if it has one factor for improvement and one for deficiency—for example, if it was swallowed but has upon it a "rekhev dekalim" or contains nine kabin, or if it was not swallowed but does not have upon it a "rekhev dekalim" and also does not contain nine kabin—in this the sages of blessed memory said [Bava Batra 62b] that it is "shuda de-dayyani," for the matter is handed over to the beit din according to how they see which way the intent of the seller and the buyer inclined. And according to the price and according to the custom of the land, whether it shall be sold or not sold, so shall they do [Levush]. And even though in every place we say that the hand of the buyer is on the bottom, nevertheless here it appeared to the sages to rule "shuda de-dayyani" [Tosafot ibid.] because it is a remote thing that he would not sell the fourth boundary; therefore, they handed the matter over to the beit din.

If he demarcated for him one long boundary and one short boundary, for example, if the eastern boundary is one hundred cubits long and the western boundary is fifty cubits, if the long boundary belonged to one man, he has not acquired even from the east except for that which is opposite the short boundary, for the hand of the buyer is at a disadvantage, and we say that he merely expanded the boundaries for him. But if it belonged to two people, and he wrote to him "the fields of Reuven and of Shimon are from the east, and of Levi is the western boundary," and the field of Reuven is opposite Levi while the field of Shimon extends further, it is as if it were explicit that in the long boundary he acquired everything, for if not so, why did he mention Shimon at all? Therefore, he acquires according to the "head of a mountain-peak" (resh tor), which is diagonally; in the east until the long boundary and in the west until the short boundary, and they follow a diagonal line from the eastern boundary to the western boundary. And some say that even when the eastern boundary belonged to one man, he also acquires diagonally like a resh tor, for if not so, he should have written that half of Reuven's field is the boundary. And a resh tor is an ornament made in the shape of a triangle, and every corner is pointed because it goes diagonally, as it is written: "Circlets (torei) of gold," etc.

He did not delineate the boundaries of the entire length of the directions, but rather demarcated for him the corner alone, such that he wrote: the field of Reuven is in the northeastern corner, and that of Shimon is in the southwestern corner, and that of Levi is in the southeastern corner, and that of Yehuda is in the northwestern corner; or if he demarcated for him two boundaries like a gamma, which is a Greek letter, and they are opposite one another, such as if he delineated for him the southeastern corner and the northwestern corner, and the boundaries enter slightly into all directions as is understood; or if he demarcated for him a portion of each and every direction, such as if eight fields surround the field from all sides and he wrote for him one field from each side—behold, he has not acquired all of it, but rather he acquires from it according to what he delineated for him. For example, in demarcating a corner, he only acquires corresponding to the corner, and they measure for him two ropes from corner to corner diagonally, warp and woof, according to the width of the boundaries of the corner. And in a gamma, he acquires from it a strip according to the measurement of the gamma. And in a portion of every direction, they divide the field into eight parts, and he acquires four-eighths of them according to the boundaries he delineated for him. And the Rambam, of blessed memory, in chapter 21 added regarding this that they should act according to what the dayanim see fit, and in the Gemara this was not mentioned. And seemingly it implies that his opinion is to rule according to shuda d'dayni [the Maggid Mishneh]. And there is one who says that his intention is not for shuda, but rather his intention is that the dayanim should perform the division according to what has been explained [the Shach]. And it appears more likely that his intention is that if the dayanim see that the custom among many people is that they do not demarcate the boundaries for the entire length, he acquires everything; and this is not literally shuda d'dayni, and so it is proper to instruct.

If Reuven's boundary was east and west and Shimon's boundary was north and south, he must write for him: "the boundary of Reuven from two sides and the boundary of Shimon from two sides," for if not so, he only acquires two sides in the shape of a gamma. And in the Tur it is further written that if he demarcated for him a long eastern boundary and a short western one, and a long northern boundary and a short southern one, we divide it into two "heads of a mountain," and the division is understood from what we explained in the previous section.

If he had a field and sold a portion of it to Shimon on the western side, and on the eastern side he retained it for himself, and he defined for him the western boundary but did not define for him the eastern boundary—which is his own field—precisely how many cubits of his own to know the place where Shimon's portion begins, but rather when he wrote the boundaries he wrote all three boundaries from the three directions which are fields of others, and regarding the eastern boundary he wrote this language: "the eastern boundary from which it is divided" or "from which it is cut," meaning to say that the eastern boundary is my field, as from this field Shimon's portion is divided or Shimon's portion is cut; and there is a doubt whether he sold him half the field or only the minimum measure of a field, which is nine kabin, the hand of the holder of the document is at a disadvantage and he has only nine kabin. However, if he wrote some superfluous language, such as if he wrote "and these are its boundaries," he acquires half the field, for this language is certainly to strengthen the hand of the holder of the document so that his hand is not at a disadvantage. And know that in all that was written in section 4, that he acquires only a portion of it due to the doubt, nevertheless he must at least give him the measure of a field. And all the doubts apply when he did not write for him how many square cubits he sold him, or what the length is and what the width is, for if not so, there is no doubt here, as we would measure them. Furthermore, it appears to me that in any place where due to the doubt the hand of the buyer is at a disadvantage, if he has not yet given the money, we do not compel him to give the money and take the portion, according to the "there are those who say" in siman 218, section 14, see there. And when they cannot reach an agreement together, the sale is voided.