Rambam - 3 Chapters a Day

When a person sells an entity that has appurtenances, he is not including the appurtenances in the sale unless that is explicitly stated.

What is implied? If a person sold a house, he did not sell the patio around the house, even though it opens to the house. When does the above apply? When the patio is four cubits or more wide. If it is smaller than this, it is considered to be part of the house.

Similarly, a loft that is above a house and that opens up to it through an opening in the ceiling of the house is considered to be part of the house.

When a person sells a house, he is not including a room that is located behind the house in the sale. This applies even when it is included in the external borders of the property that the seller draws for the purchaser. Nor does the sale include the roof if it is four cubits wide and possesses a guardrail that is ten handbreadths high. Nor does it include a water receptacle hollowed out in the ground or a cistern that is built within a pit projecting above the ground. This applies even when he sold him the height and the depth of the property, as we have explained above.

The seller must purchase a path from the purchaser in order to gain access to the water receptacle or the cistern that he retained. For when a person sells property, he sells generously.

If at the time of the original sale, the seller tells the purchaser: "I am selling you the house with the exception of the water receptacle or the cistern," he does not have to buy a path to the cistern. Similarly, when a person purchases a water receptacle or a cistern alone, the purchaser does not have to purchase a path. Instead, he may enter the seller's house and proceed as far as the cistern and fill his container.

The following rules apply when there are two rooms, one inside the other: If one sold them to two separate people or gave them to two separate people, neither of the recipients has the right to make a path through the other's property. Needless to say, this applies if the original owner gave the external room away and sold the inner one.

If, however, he sold the outer room and gave away the inner room, the recipient of the inner room has the right to make a path for himself through the outer room. The rationale is that a person is more generous when he gives than when he sells.

When a person sells a house, he also sells the oven, the range, the door frames that are attached with mortar, the door, the beam, the lock, but not the key. He also sells a mill that is permanently affixed in the ground, but not one that is movable. He sells the wooden base on which a mill is positioned, but not the container into which the flour descends. Nor does he sell the blocks for the feet of a bed, nor the window frames, even though they are affixed with mortar, for they are intended for decoration.

When the seller says that he is selling the house and all its contents, all of the above are also sold.

When a person sells a courtyard, he includes in the sale any water reservoirs, vaults or cellars that are located in it, all the outer and inner buildings, the buildings that contain sand and the stores that open to it. The stores that do not open to it, by contrast, are not included in the sale.

If stores open both inside and outside the courtyard the following rules apply. If the majority of the activity performed within them is performed within the courtyard, they are included in its sale. If not, they are not included in the sale. Movable property located in the courtyard is not included in the sale.

When the seller says that he is selling the courtyard and all its contents, all of the above are also sold. Regardless of what he said, a bathhouse or an olive press located within are not sold.

When a person sells an olive press, he includes in the sale the large stone that is affixed in the ground, upon which the olives are ground, the cedar beams that are used for support when the olives are being ground, the storage reservoirs and the storage containers in which the crushed olives are placed. These are called mafrechot. Not included in the sale is the upper millstone.

When the seller says that he is selling the olive press and all its contents, all of the above are also sold. Regardless of what he said, the blocks that are used to press the olives, the apparatus that rotates the stone, the beam, the sacks and the leather sacks used in the press are not sold.

When the seller says: "I am selling you an olive press and all its accessories," all of the above are sold.

The following rules apply if there are stores outside the olive press where olives or sesame seeds are spread out. If when the seller drew the external boundaries, he included these, they are all included in the sale. If not, the purchaser acquires only what is inside the building of the press itself.

When a person sells a bathhouse, included in the sale is the plank room where people sit while they are naked, the storehouse for the containers in which water is placed, the room where there are benches in the courtyard of the bathhouse where people sit when they are clothed, and the towel room in which they dry themselves. Not included in the sale are the planks, the water containers, the benches or the towels themselves.

When the seller says that he is selling [the bathhouse] and all its contents, all of the above are also sold. Regardless of what he said, he did not include in the sale the pools that provide water for the bathhouse in the summer and in the winter, nor the lumber shed where wood is stored.

When the seller says: "I am selling you a bathhouse and all its accessories," all of the above are sold, even though they are located outside [the bathhouse itself].

When a person sells a town, included in the sale are the homes, the water reservoirs, vaults, cellars, bathhouses, dovecotes, olive presses, aqueducts in the town and near the town, the woods that surround the town, the fields that are known to be part of the town, the pens for wild animals, fowl and fish that face the town, even though they are distant from it. Not included in the sale is the movable property the town contains.

When the seller says that he is selling the town and all its contents, the movable property is also sold. Regardless of what he said, he did not include in the sale fields that are not known to be part of the town, the villages that surround it, the woods that are distant from it, its portion of a sea, its portion of dry land, or the pens for wild animals, fowl and fish that do not face the town.

When a person sells a field, included in the sale are the stones that support the fence and the stones that are placed on the sheaves, for they are necessary elements of the field. Also included in the sale are the planed reeds that are placed under the vines to support them, the grain that is attached to the ground even though the time for its harvest has come, a place where reeds grow that is less than the area necessary to sow a fourth of a se'ah of grain, even though the reeds that grow there are thick and strong, the hut for the watchman which is made with mortar, even though it is not a permanent structure, a carob tree even though other trees have not been grafted upon it, wild fig trees that have not been cut down yet, even though their trunks are thick, and all the date palms it contains.

The following articles, by contrast, are not included in the sale: the stones that are not structured to support the fence, and the stones that are not placed on the sheaves, even though they are prepared for these purposes, the reeds in the vineyard that are not placed under the vines even though they have been planed, made flat and prepared for this purpose, and the grain that has been uprooted from the ground even though it still requires the field. When the seller says that he is selling the field and all its contents, these are also sold.

Regardless of what the seller said, he did not include in the sale a place where reeds grow that is the size of an area necessary to sow a fourth of a se'ah of grain - even though the reeds growing in it are thin and small - a small block of spices that has a name of its own - e.g., it is called so and so's rose garden - the hut for the watchman, which is not made with mortar even though it is affixed to the ground, a carob tree upon which other trees have been grafted, and stumps of wild fig trees that have been cut down even though they are thin.

Nor is a water reservoir, a grape press or a dovecote - whether complete or destroyed - included in the sale.

The seller must purchase from the purchaser a path in order to proceed to the water reservoir, grape press or dovecote that he retained in the field. If the seller explicitly said: "The field is sold with the exception of these items," he does not have to purchase a path.

When do the above restrictions with regard to what is included in a sale apply? With regard to a seller, for the purchaser should have explicitly stated that these entities are being included in the sale. Since he did not make such a statement, he does not receive them.

When, however, a person gives a present, the recipient acquires all the entities mentioned above - whether a field, a house, a courtyard or an olive press - that are being transferred. The general principle is that when a person gives landed property as a present, the recipient acquires everything that is attached to it unless the giver specifies otherwise.

Similarly, when brothers divide an inheritance, and one acquires a field, he acquires all the articles associated with the field. When a person takes possession of the property of a convert who dies, if he takes possession of a field, he acquires all of the above. And when a person consecrates a field, he consecrates all of the above.

Even with regard to a seller and a purchaser, all the above concepts apply with regard to these matters only when there is not a fixed custom or known terms commonly used with regard to every individual article. In a place where it is customary that a person who sells a particular entity includes in the sale other particular entities, those entities are included in the sale even if they are not mentioned explicitly, for we rely on the custom.

Similarly, in a place where the term "house" refers to the house alone, or the term "house" refers not only to the house but to all of its surroundings and everything that is upon it, we follow the meaning common in that locale.

Similarly, when a person sells a courtyard, a field, a town or movable property, with regard to everything we follow the meaning of the terms that are used by all the local people.

This is a fundamental principle: With regard to all matters of commerce and trade, we follow the commonly accepted meanings of the terms used by people of that place, and the local business customs. When, however, there are no local business customs or commonly accepted meanings of terms, and instead, one person will have this intent and another, another intent, we follow the guidelines explained by the Sages in these chapters.

When a person sells a ship, included in the sale are the mast, the sail, its anchors, the ropes used to steer it, the ramp and the ladder with which one ascends to the ship and descends to its lower deck, and the reservoir of drinking water it contains.

Not included in the sail is the beitzit - the small boat in which one sails to land, the dugit - the small boat with which the sailors fish - the servants who work on the ship, or the sacks and the merchandise that it contains. When the seller tells the purchaser: "I am selling you a ship and everything it contains, they are all included in the sale.

When a person sells a carriage, he has not sold the mules if they are not attached to it. If he sells the mules, he has not sold the carriage.

If a person sells a yoke, he does not sell the oxen. If he sells the oxen, he does not sell the yoke. This applies even in a place where, when some people say "oxen," they are referring to a yoked team.

When a person sells a single yoke, he also sells the cow. When he sells a cow, he does not sell its yoke. When he sells a wagon, he sells the oxen. When he sells oxen, he has not sold the wagon.

In all these matters and the like, the price of the article is no proof of the seller's intent.

When a person sells a donkey, included in the sale are the saddlecloth and the saddle, even though they are not on the donkey. The saddle-bags and a riding seat for women are not included in the sale, even if they are on the donkey at the time of the sale.

The price paid for an article is not considered to be proof of the seller's intent. If the purchaser erred with regard to a sum that one might ordinarily err, the laws of ona'ah are applied, or the transaction is nullified, as is the law with regard to any seller and purchaser. If, however, the error is inordinately greater than one would make, the transaction is not nullified. We assume that the extra money is a present that the purchaser gave the seller, and the purchaser receives merely a donkey without its saddlebags.

The same applies in all analogous situations: We do not bring proof of the seller's intent from the price.

When a person sells a maid-servant, included in the sale are all the garments she is wearing, even if there are one hundred. Nevertheless, jewelry

- e.g., a bracelet, a nose ring, a finger ring or a choker worn around the neck

- are not included in the sale.

If the seller says: "I am selling you a maid-servant and everything that is upon her," even if she is wearing articles that are worth 100 maneh, they are all included in the sale.

If a person tells a colleague, "I am selling you a pregnant maid-servant," or "I am selling you a pregnant cow," the fetus is sold together with the mother.

If a person tells a colleague, "I am selling you a nursing maid-servant," or "I am selling you a nursing cow," the infant or the calf is not included in the sale.

If a person tells a colleague, "I am selling you a nursing donkey, the donkey colt is included in the sale, because no one ever sells a donkey for its milk.

If a person tells a colleague, "I am selling you the head of this servant," or "... of this donkey," half of the animal is included in the sale. Similar laws apply with regard to any organ on which the life of the animal depends.

If the seller tells the purchaser: "The hand of this servant..." or "the forearm of this donkey is sold to you," an evaluation is made between them. Similar laws apply with regard to any organ on which the life of the animal does not depend.

If he tells him: "I am selling you the head of this cow," only the head is included in the sale, for the head of a cow is always being sold in butcher shops.

When a person sells the head of a large animal, the feet are not included in the sale. If he sells the feet, the head is not sold. If he sells the windpipe, the liver is not sold. If he sells the liver, the windpipe is not sold.

With regard to a small animal, however, different laws apply. When a person sells the head, the feet are included in the sale. If he sells the feet, the head is not sold. If he sells the windpipe, the liver is sold. If he sells the liver, the windpipe is not sold.

When a person sells a water reservoir, the water is not included in the sale. When he sells a garbage dump, the garbage is included in the sale. When he sells a beehive, the bees are included in the sale. When he sells a dovecote, the doves are included in the sale.

Do not let the fundamental principles governing these matters escape your eyes. These are the accepted local customs, and the commonly accepted meaning of terms for every particular entity. In a place where there is no local custom defined, and a term does not have a specific meaning that excludes a more encompassing conception, we follow these principles that were explained by our Sages, as stated previously.