Siman 302

Both the man and the woman are equal in the laws of shomrim, whether she is the depositor or the bailee, and whether she is a borrower or a renter, and whether she is a lessor or a lender. And that which is written, "If a man shall give to his fellow," is not to exclude a woman, but rather it is the way of the verse; and in many places in the Torah this language is used as if "person" were written, for the Torah equated a woman to a man for all laws in the Torah regarding monetary matters, as it is said in Parashat Naso regarding theft and swearing falsely: "A man or a woman who shall commit any of the sins of man, etc." [Bava Kamma 15a]. And a woman who broke the vessels of her husband through negligence is exempt from paying, not by law, but rather for the sake of domestic peace, as is written in Even HaEzer siman 80; but if she broke it intentionally or gave it to another, she is liable [Shach]. And ab initio, one does not accept deposits from a woman who has a husband, for we fear perhaps she stole it from him; and nevertheless, if he transgressed and accepted it, he returns it to her, as is written in Even HaEzer siman 86, see there.

A minor who deposited or lent to an adult, the adult swears the oath of the guardians to the minor. And even though one does not swear upon the claim of a minor, as was written in siman 96, that refers to his certain claim, for he is not of sufficient intellect for his claim to be considered a certain claim; however, regarding guardians, where the oath is upon a doubtful claim, one swears even upon his claim. This is the opinion of the Rambam in the second chapter of Sekhirut, and according to his opinion, we do not require regarding orphans the reason we explained in siman 301, section 11. But there are those who disagree and hold that by Torah law one does not swear upon any claim of a minor, and furthermore, regarding guardians it is written "when a man shall give" and not a minor, and only by rabbinic law does one swear upon his claim. And more was explained regarding this in siman 96, and the law of a deaf-mute and an imbecile was also explained there, see there.