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Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 40
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Read the full text in the readerChoshen Mishpat Siman 40
Choshen Mishpat Siman 40 is a source-text unit from the Shulchan Arukh with 2 seifim. Its reading map separates the practical rule, its conditions and the points that need comparison with the surrounding text.
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Original text
<b>דין המחייב עצמו לחבירו. ובו ב סעיפים:</b><br>המחייב עצמו בממון לאחר בלא תנאי אע"פ שלא היה חייב לו כלום ה"ז חייב כיצד האומר לעדים הוו עלי עדים שאני חייב לפלוני מנה או שכתב לו בשטר הריני חייב לך מנה אע"פ שאין שם עדים או שאמר לו בפני עדים הריני חייב לך מנה בשטר אע"פ שלא אמר אתם עידי הואיל ואמר בשטר ה"ז כמו שאמר הוו עלי עדים וחייב לשלם אע"פ ששניהם מודים והעדים יודעים שלא היה לו אצלו כלום שהרי חייב עצמו כמו שישתעבד הערב וכ"ש כשכותב לאחד קבלתי ממך כך וכך על החוב שיש בידך דהוי מחילה אע"ג דידעינן דלא קבל (ב"י סי' ע"ג בשם הריטב"א):
1. The Law of One Who Obligates Himself to His Friend, 2 Seifim: If one unconditionally obligated himself monetarily to another, he is required to pay, even if he was not otherwise obligated. How so? If one tells witnesses “you are witnesses that I owe so and so a maneh,”; if there are no witnesses but he writes in a document “I owe you a maneh”; or if he does not say “you are witnesses” but says in front of witnesses “I owe you a maneh via a document”- since he said the term “document” it is as if he said you should be witnesses for me- in all such cases he is required to pay even if both parties admit, and the witnesses are aware, that he did not in fact owe the other anything, because he has obligated himself in the same fashion a co-signer can obligate himself. All the more so in a case where one writes “I accepted such and such sum of money from you with respect to the debt you owed me” would he waive his right to the loan even though we know he did not in fact accept any money. (Beis Yosef, Seif 73, in the name of the Ritvah)
לוה שכתב בכ"י והעיד בו עדים ונתנו למלוה ה"ז שטר כשר וכן אם כתב שטר אף ע"פ שאין בו עדים ונתנו למלוה בפני עדים ה"ז מלוה בשטר והוא שיהי' כתב ידו שאינו יכול להזדייף ויקראו אותו העדים שנמסר בפניהם ויש מהגאונים שהורו שצריך לומר לעדים שמסרו בפניהם חתמו והעידו שנמסר בפניכם:
2. If a borrower writes a document in his own handwriting with witnesses testifying on it and he hands it over to the lender, the document has the status of a formal, valid document. Similarly, if the borrower wrote the document without witnesses, but handed it over to the lender in front of witnesses, the loan is considered a documented loan so long as his handwriting is not forgeable and the witnesses who witnessed the handing over of the document read the document. There are those of the Geonim who rule that the borrower must tell the witnesses who witnessed the handing over to sign and testify that it was handed over in front of you.
English translation: Sefaria Community Translation · CC0