11
votes
Accepted
Why is the talmud concerned about judges being swayed by each other only for capital cases?
Tosafot on Sanhedrin 36a s.v. dinei nefashot is bothered by your question as to why we're not concerned that junior judges can't argue on the senior judge in monetary cases. They suggest two possible ...
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10
votes
Black? I ordered it dyed red!
I understand that this Halacha reflects the economic realities of the Mishna, where pretty much everyone was producing small handicraft and traded them. It could reasonably be assumed that you could ...
- 1,827
9
votes
Accepted
What is the halacha about lying to a Non-Jew?
No.
Deceiving anyone including a non-Jew is strictly forbidden. Even if the non-Jew suffers no loss.And even if the deception is not explicit lying.
The Gemora (Chullin 94A)says: “Shmuel says, it is ...
- 4,688
8
votes
Accepted
Must you inform someone if you know you could save them from losing money?
According to R Tzvi Spitz in his book, Cases in Monetary Halacha, yes you do. He brings the following points
Just as there is a mitzvah to return lost objects to their owner, so it is obligatory to ...
- 47.7k
8
votes
Pirating software that has already been bought
When you purchase a DVD like you are describing, there is a 'terms of use' agreement, a 'terms and conditions' of sale and multiple copyrights (often in compliance with different jurisdictions around ...
- 14.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Do I have first rights to slaughter on the day I buy a child or parent animal?
Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De’ah 16:6 writes that as soon as one sells an animal, he may not slaughter its offspring/parent that day, as the sale is done with the intent that the purchaser may slaughter the ...
- 41.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Using a siddur to Daven from in a seforim store
No. One who borrows an item without permission from the owner is conidered a gazlan (שואל שלא מדעת גזלן), and like all cases of stealing, must return the item (והשיב את הגזילה אשר גזל). He is not ...
- 7,851
7
votes
Status of Paper Money as Currency
Chatam Sofer Yoreh De'ah 134 writes pretty definitively that paper money is considered money for virtually all purposes:
אבל גדר המטבע הוא שגזר המלך עליו שתצא ומי שממאן מלמכר וליקח באותו המטבע ...
- 41.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Why are the halachot of Ribit (interest) in Yoreh Deah
See here for an interesting point on this. However, the facts remain:
the laws of ribbit are found in Yoreh Deah (which deals with what is permitted and what is forbidden), whereas ona’ah is ...
- 20.9k
6
votes
Pirating software
I cannot provide the name of a posek allowing the use of pirated software. Most Internet references to rabbanim allowing this are anonymous and along the lines of "a friend has told me", "I heard from"...
- 47.7k
6
votes
Status of Paper Money as Currency
Rav Asher Weiss has a teshuvah about use of paper money for pidyon ha-ben. The basis for the question is that the Gemara (Bechoros 51a) states that one may not use shtaros for pidyon ha-ben because ...
- 14.3k
6
votes
Why are the halachot of Ribit (interest) in Yoreh Deah
Yoreh Deah siman 159 is the halacha that it is permitted to loan to a non-Jew with interest. This is there, because it is following on the heels of other halachos related to how we treat non-Jews. In ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Do I have first rights to slaughter on the day I buy a child or parent animal?
Tosefta, Chulin 5 (quoted by Rashi, Chulin 82a לענין; and quoted in Riff):
הלוקח מבעל הבית הוא קודם לבעל הבית שמתחלה לא לקחו אלא על מנת כן
One who purchases a cow from someone may be the first to ...
- 479
6
votes
Accepted
Rabbi's liability for giving a wrong psak
There are a lot of details about this depending exactly what kind of mistake it was and who was harmed how and how easy it is to get the money back if possible. See Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 25.
...
- 97.3k
5
votes
Hitting a double-parked car
I googled and found this exact application of these rules in the Business Halacha Institute's newsletter for Shoftim 5773.
First, they indicate that the first principle you quote from 412:1, which ...
- 47.8k
5
votes
Accepted
Magazine subscription that doesn't cancel
The Business Halacha Institute discusses your very question about a Jewish newspaper:
“The magazine was aware that your subscription expired, yet knowingly
sent additional issues,” explained ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
Could this passage have any relevance to artificial intelligence?
The Talmudic tractate called Bava Kamma, in many places, discusses the meaning of the various "damagers" mentioned in the Torah for various liabilities. The first page of Bava Kamma, explains that the ...
- 10.7k
5
votes
Amazon sent extra book, should I return it?
Rambam says (גזלות ואבידות יא:ד) you can rely on the non-jew’s authority in a sale, that he is in charge, and should he mess up, you’re off the hook.
Also, the rules of the country you live in (...
- 479
5
votes
Is a car considered movable or immovable property?
We learn the halacha about a car by first looking at the halacha by a boat.
A boat is a movable property and is acquired by:
meshicha "pulling" from a property to another
mesira "...
- 22.7k
5
votes
Understanding the split payments for embarrassment in Kesubos 6:1
The Ran [on the side of the Rif in Kesuvos 65b] asks this question.
If I understand his answer correctly, he says that since the husband is also embarrassed, that reduces his wife embarrassment ...
- 6,123
5
votes
Tuition obligation during corona crisis
See https://www.halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Halachot_Related_to_Coronavirus#Laid_off_Workers_Because_of_Corona
Rabbi Zylberman on yutorah.
Mordechai b"m 343 writes that if there's a decree ...
- 361
5
votes
May one bill two clients for the same hour
So the Business Halacha Institute here addresses this idea albeit with a different scenario - namely an attorney that is traveling to a client meeting in which the time and expense of the trip are ...
- 30.1k
4
votes
Pirating software that has already been bought
As you said, this is a very interesting field where there aren't many organized halachot (though this is improving with time).
Anyway, here is an interesting summary of halachot for this issue, with ...
- 3,825
4
votes
Accepted
When is desiring another man's property permitted
According to Rambam Hilkhot G'neva V'aveda 1:9 the prohibition of lo tahmod is violated by coercing the owner to sell an object. Lo titaveh does not require one to acquire the object. However, Rambam ...
- 35.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Dayanus taught at the 770 Central Yeshiva
Orach Chaim: Krias Sefer Torah, Netilas Yodaim, Betzias Hapas, Brachos Shebiseudah, Mayim Achronim, Birkas Hamazon, Birkas Hapeiros, Seder Birkas Hanehenin, Shabbos and Eiruvin.
Yoreh Deah: Melicha, ...
4
votes
Internet shopping after browsing in a store
From an article by Rabbi Meir Orlian, answering this question
It is permissible to browse, though, if there is a possibility that
you might buy there. Any store owner knows that potential ...
- 3,849
4
votes
What Jewish monetary laws defy common logic?
Compiling some answers from the comments to the OP (feel free to add more):
If you ignite someone else’s property, you’re exempt from paying for anything which was hidden and damaged by the fire (BK ...
4
votes
Overview of Choshen Mishpat; please recommend sefer
The founder and trustee of Touro College as well as Dean of the Jerusalem Institute of Jewish Law, Rabbi Emmanuel Quint, has a 10 volume series entitled A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law which ...
- 30.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Damages and two defendants -- how would a beit din resolve?
I spoke to a friend who has sat as a dayan on many cases, in many different courts, and he told me that he is unaware of any hard and fast rule for such a thing, but that the general practice of beis ...
- 58.3k
3
votes
if there was a caliphate established would the jews have to pay the jizya
The law of the land must be obeyed in general unless it significantly violates other mitzvot requirements or the law is tyrannical.
E.g. Romans forbid circumcision, still obligated to circumcize.
E....
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