One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת מְכִירָה
Sales 16-18
Sefer Kinyan · What the buyer meant • What the words name • What the goods may look like
3
Days beer may sour in the
seller's barrel at his risk
1/4
Kav of pebbles a lentil
buyer accepts per se'ah
10
Wormy figs in a hundred
a buyer must accept
4
States of a seller's
description of his wheat
Ch 16The Purpose Comes With the Goods
- Seeds that must grow. Garden-vegetable seeds that people do not eat are presumed bought to sow: if they fail because of the seeds, the seller refunds; not if hail struck. Wheat, barley and even flax seed are eaten by some, so the seller is free unless the buyer said he was sowing. Medicines and dyes follow the same rule. (16:1-2)
- Told it was going to another city. If the buyer said he would transport it and a voiding blemish turns up there, the seller refunds and bears the trouble of the goods, even if they are lost or stolen after notice. Without notice, they stay in the buyer's domain until returned. (16:3)
- Who bears the risk. Produce with a known blemish that is lost or stolen is the buyer's; produce that spoils from age is the seller's, unless the buyer should have warned him. A goring ox: the seller may say he sold it for slaughter, unless he knew this buyer buys only to plow. (16:4-5)
- A second blemish. A trefah animal already slaughtered goes back with its money. Damage done in ordinary use is not charged; damage from a deviation is paid for. A cut garment may be returned in pieces, a sewn cloak with payment for the value added. Land lived on is returned with rent. (16:6-8)
- Hidden flaw that destroys it; forbidden food. The ox with no molars that starved goes back for its price, but a broker who never held it swears and is free. For firstborn meat, trefah, tevel or idolatrous wine, what was eaten is not counted and the money is returned; for a Rabbinic prohibition, what was eaten was a benefit. (16:9-14)
RememberOnce you know what he is buying it for, you have sold him that too.
Ch 17What the Words Name
- Four states of a seller. Said fine, was poor: only the buyer may retract. Buyer called it poor, was fine: only the seller may retract. Roughly as described: measure for a sixth and return the difference. A different kind, red for white, wine for vinegar: both may retract. (17:1-2)
- Wine that turns. In the buyer's jars, souring is his, even if he said it was for cooking, unless the seller knew it was turning. In the seller's jars, a buyer who said for cooking may return it; one who did not is asked why he did not drink it. Beer in the seller's barrel: three days at the seller's risk. (17:3-4)
- Selling slowly. A barrel bought to sell little by little may be returned if half or a third sours, unless he moved the spout hole or let a market day pass. Wine taken to sell elsewhere is the buyer's if it sours or the price falls on the way. (17:5)
- Words carry promises. Fragrant wine lasts until Shavuot; aged is last year's; vintage is in its third year and lasts until Sukkot; local custom governs. A cellar of wine, said plainly, allows ten turning jugs in a hundred; a barrel of wine must be all good; this cellar, without the word wine, may be all vinegar. (17:6-8)
- The kneading tray. Selling a kneading tray or an olive-press beam means a finished one that anyone would call by that name, not wood it could be made from. (17:9)
RememberA word in a sale names the finished thing, not the log it could become.
Ch 18The Truth of Appearances
- No deceit, toward anyone. It is forbidden to deceive or beguile in business, Jew or gentile. A known blemish must be disclosed, and even flattering words that mislead are forbidden. (18:1)
- No dressing up the old. Servants, animals and old utensils may not be made to look new; new utensils may be polished and beautified. No bran water, no rouge, no inflated intestines, no soaked meat, no non-kosher meat sold to a gentile as kosher. Husking only the top of the sack is forbidden. (18:2-4)
- Not deception. A merchant may give roasted grain and nuts to children to bring them back, and may undersell the market; other merchants may not stop him. (18:4)
- No mixing. Two batches of the same produce may not be mixed, certainly not old with new. Wines may be blended while fermenting, or when the added flavor is distinct. No water in wine for sale without notice, and never to a merchant; no dregs in wine or oil. (18:5-8)
- Honest allowances. Plain oil: a log and a half of dregs per hundred; refined: none. Per se'ah: a quarter kav of legumes in wheat, dried kernels in barley, pebbles in lentils; figs, ten wormy per hundred. Over the allowance, the seller sifts the whole batch. Local custom governs, and a stone taken from such a heap is paid for as wheat. (18:9-14)
RememberPolish what is new. Never paint what is old to look new.