Questions tagged [choshen-mishpat-civil-law]

Questions about the Jewish Code of monetary and civil law.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
7 votes
1 answer
104 views

Safek Leket Leket vs. Hamotzi Mechaveiro

On the one hand, the Mishnah (Pe'ah 4:11) records that doubtful leket goes to the poor. (Yes, I am aware that R' Meir says that. The Tosfos Yom Tov holds that everyone holds of that in principle and ...
9 votes
1 answer
139 views

Magazine subscription that doesn't cancel

Many magazines (in the United States, anyway) today find the main profitability is in having higher subscriber numbers to show advertisers and really don't care if the subscriber is paying. The main ...
15 votes
4 answers
490 views

Intentionally using a grace period on a rental

I recently rented a bike for a few hours, and the person in charge of the rental told us that we have "X number of hours, and a 15 minute grace period," followed by the warning that if we don't return ...
8 votes
1 answer
476 views

Does Judaism adjudicate cases involving mental anguish?

If a non-physical act, such as exposure to viewing something which the current medical field would deem traumatizing, is intentionally perpetrated by one person on another, are there any legal ...
11 votes
2 answers
221 views

Is Dina D'Malchusa a din in Gavra or in Cheftza?

Let's say that Reuvain owes Shimon money in American law, and Dina Demalchusa applies, does that mean: Reuvein has a halachic monetary obligation to Shimon which is as strong as any other obligation, ...
4 votes
3 answers
264 views

Are "Price-Tag" Attacks halachically sound?

Certain fringe elements* in Israel are known for committing crimes in reaction to Palestinian attacks. This attacks have in the past included the destruction of Palestinian-owned olive groves and ...
8 votes
3 answers
492 views

How is one allowed to live in Israel?

When Yehoshua came to Israel, he conquered it and divided it among the Jews. This land belongs to them and their descendants. When the Jews were exiled many years later and came back (by the 2nd Beis ...
6 votes
1 answer
131 views

What is the Halachah if someone lost an object despite efforts to protect it?

If someone charged with guarding an object took protective precautions, but it nonetheless disappeared, what is the Halachah? Let us assume they were not paid for their guardianship, nor were they ...
12 votes
2 answers
498 views

Is it halachically permissible to click on contextual ads with no intention of buying?

Contextual ads are those ads you see when you do a search on Google. The advertisers only pay if someone actually clicks on their ad. It seems "pashut" to me that clicking an ad if you know you're not ...
4 votes
1 answer
126 views

Onaah and the Black Market

The issur of onaah applies when one charges more than an additional sixth of the market price. Does one have to take into account competition with black market prices (where goods in this case are ...
2 votes
1 answer
77 views

Progressive Tax and Onaah

Is there an issue of a (halachic) government taxing individuals on the basis of their income?
2 votes
1 answer
388 views

if there was a caliphate established would the jews have to pay the jizya

If there was a caliphate established in America would Jews be required to pay the jizya, according to Halacha, since the caliphate would be the government of the land Background: Jizya is a per ...
17 votes
6 answers
2k views

Train ticket not collected: destroy?

Assuming a train line where single-ride tickets are normally collected or cancelled manually by train crew circulating among seated passengers, and it is physically possible to use them later if they ...
1 vote
1 answer
64 views

What was a shtar (document) for?

It seems that a possible prerequisite of knowing What recourse is available for someone whose property was seized by a creditor of the seller? is knowing what happened to a loan document? When ...
8 votes
1 answer
248 views

Product liability in halacha

What does Judaism say about product liability? That is, if I sell someone a product and — because it was manufactured poorly or not as advertised — the purchaser sustains damage, to what ...
3 votes
1 answer
159 views

Very small damage to someone else's property

If someone walks past a parked car with a stroller, the stroller got caught on the plastic casing around the number plate and a small piece broke off, is it wrong to walk off? What would halacha say ...
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

Pirating software that has already been bought

Say, for instance, that I've previously bought a set of DVDs (for example, the workout program P90x, which contains several DVDs in a set), and that I am currently in a different country and have not ...
4 votes
2 answers
99 views

Must you inform someone if you know you could save them from losing money?

Must you inform someone if you know you could save them from losing money? For example, if you work in an office building, and you realize a window which should be shut is open and resulting in ...
21 votes
3 answers
554 views

Can I lend out a Library Book?

I just borrowed a wonderful book from the local library (let's assume Jewish library - but does it matter?). My friend sees the book and wants to read it. My library lets me keep the book for a week, ...
8 votes
2 answers
170 views

Attaching Conditions to a Sale

If I sell someone an item (e.g. an orange), and I attach a condition (e.g. "you may not make orange juice"), is it successfully binding? What happens if that someone does violate the condition (e.g. ...
5 votes
1 answer
293 views

Car falls into my ditch- I'm not responsible?

Halacha dictates that if someone were to dig a huge hole in the middle of the street and a car fell into it, he would not be responsible to pay for the damage to the car. The language of the Talmud ...
1 vote
2 answers
159 views

Scratch on a car: liability if panel was later paid by another

If someone scratches my car door and then later a second person knocks it off completely and the second person has to compensate, is the first person who scratched the door still responsible to pay me?...
3 votes
2 answers
258 views

Card Counting Permissibility

For what it is (if you haven't heard of it), see Card Counting (wikipedia) Also assuming Gambling is not a problem in that scenario. It's perfectly legal in the U.S. So would it be a problem in ...
1 vote
1 answer
173 views

No one's ticket collected on the train: destroy?

This is a rolloff of this question: Train ticket not collected: destroy? IF one is on a train that is too packed for any conductor to go on. Or it is a day where there is bad whether and the ...
-2 votes
1 answer
104 views

Copyright issues in apps

Are there be any Halachik issues with regard to using someone else's logo, twitter avatar or the like as part of an app? If it would be okay, would that only be if I don't make any money from the app?...
7 votes
2 answers
607 views

Why is Taus Akum Different?

So the Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat (348:2) says: כל הגונב אפילו שוה פרוטה עובר על לאו דלא תגנובו וחייב לשלם אחד הגונב ממון ישראל או הגונב ממון של עכו"ם ואחד הגונב מגדול או מקטן:‏ הגה: טעות ...
11 votes
1 answer
130 views

Who keeps the second set of sneakers?

If I appoint an agent to go purchase a pair of sneakers for me and, upon arriving at the store the agent notices they are having a two-for-one sale (which I was not aware of), when the agent buys the ...
0 votes
0 answers
48 views

Are you responsible for your client's/customer's representations of your contract?

A business has a Government contract where the Government pays for all lease expenses. This business wants to enter into a contract with a software developer to develop software, but to structure the ...
5 votes
1 answer
64 views

Is there monetary compensation for injuring a fetus?

If someone kills a fetus inside a woman, they have to pay a monetary payment for it (Shemos 21:22). If someone blinds the eye of their fetal slave, the fetus does not thereby gain its freedom (unlike ...
7 votes
3 answers
1k views

Pirating software

I have heard from numerous people that there are opinions within Orthodox halacha that permit using pirated computer software. I have never seen this sourced or printed anywhere but only things like "...
11 votes
2 answers
434 views

Hitting a double-parked car

So a friend of mine showed me a Shulchan Aruch (C.M. 412:1 and 412:2) the other day (which is based on a gemara in Bava Kama). To paraphrase the relevant points of the original text: In 412:1 it says ...
11 votes
4 answers
421 views

Is there a concept in Jewish law similar to a corporation?

In modern law, a corporation, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is an "artificial person or legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of a state or nation . . . ordinarily ...
5 votes
1 answer
130 views

What do children own?

Is there truth to the saying I heard in orthodox houses, namely that if the parents support the children (even after 13/12) everything belongs to them? What is the source of this (truth or falsehood)?...
-2 votes
1 answer
51 views

rambam saying if someone cheated you

I remember learning in Rambam that in cases where the one that was cheated can not prove it he says something like "the one that cheated me should be ..." what is the correct saying, i am looking ...
2 votes
0 answers
60 views

Selling fraudulent goods in the Rova

I was walking in the Rova (Jewish Quarter of the Old City) today after Shacharit and I noticed something which I found to be quite disconcerting. There is a Messianic "Jewish" store selling "...
3 votes
1 answer
815 views

Jewish Law in Employer/employee relationships

I saw, in an article on "Halachic Considerations of Firing Employees" by Rav Dovid Grossman of The Bais HaVaad Halacha Center: Hagaon Rav Moshe Feinstein Zt"l writes a tremendous chiddush in ...
12 votes
2 answers
168 views

Liability of substitute

If someone has an appointment, and arranges for a babysitter to come to watch his/her children while he/she goes to the appointment, and the babysitter doesn't show up, so the parent misses the ...
8 votes
1 answer
431 views

Are you allowed to fix a raffle?

Schools (or camps) sometimes make raffles for their students. If you "Daven well", you get a ticket to a raffle taking place in the afternoon. Sometimes, for good reasons or not, the school decides ...
11 votes
3 answers
758 views

Receiving Too Much Change

Do I have an obligation to give back extra change I receive? Would it matter if the store owner or person giving it to me was a Jew?
11 votes
1 answer
350 views

Is it acceptable to use software which incidentally blocks ads?

A question on this site on whether ad-blocking software is permissible suggests that the answer is that it probably, but not definitely, is acceptable. I don't use ad-blocking software myself, but I ...
3 votes
0 answers
144 views

Is there "פה שאסר הוא פה שהתיר" or a "מגו" in American law? [closed]

Does anyone know if there is any equivalent or usage of the principle "פה שאסר הוא פה שהתיר" or a "מגו" in American law that could help illustrate the principle? A basic explanation of the principle ...
21 votes
4 answers
2k views

How do you handle possible Shabbat issues when receiving a jury summons?

The last time I was summoned for jury duty it was mid-week in January, and I made a point of telling the lawyers during questioning that I would have to be home before sunset on Friday. They were not ...
3 votes
0 answers
107 views

Trespassing on Public Parks

If a state or federal park is closed, is it against halacha to go there anyway (if you are not damaging the property)? (Thoughts: I would assume it is g'neiva because it is not my property. However,...
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

What's the difference between נכסי צאן ברזל and נכסי מלוג?

What's the difference between נכסי צאן ברזל and נכסי מלוג? Is there more than one difference. When asking a prior question for what the Hebrew term for "living trust" was i got those two as a response ...
3 votes
0 answers
228 views

Is there Ribis in America?

Rav Moshe Feinstein, z"l, is lenient with regard to allowing the loaning of money to a corporation because he maintains that the prohibition of ribis (usury) only applies where there is a shibud haguf ...
4 votes
1 answer
93 views

A "lie" which is not considered a lie because everyone knows it

I remember, when I learned Seder Nezikin, that there are trading situations in which a seller lies to a buyer (e.g. exaggerates the merits of his product), but, this is not considered deception, ...
4 votes
1 answer
182 views

What Have Modern Posqim said about Nuclear Weapons?

I'm looking to find teshuvot from modern posqim that discuss the permissability of possessing and using nuclear weapons.
14 votes
2 answers
271 views

Being appointed to a jury in a case between two Jews

In the U.S., a person can be appointed as a juror without volunteering for the position. If a person would find themselves appointed as a juror over a monetary dispute between two Jews, how should ...
11 votes
2 answers
361 views

El Al Airfare error and Halachah

What are the Halachic implications of yesterday's El Al airfare snafu? In brief, El Al's air tickets were being sold online very cheap for a while; the price was later corrected, and El Al claimed the ...
1 vote
1 answer
112 views

Paying for a forbidden service

If one hires someone to do a service that is halachically forbidden, is he obligated/allowed to pay for it, e.g. blei gissen.