The Finder Who Falsely Claims a Thief Took the Lost Object

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 346:11

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: one who falsely pleads that a thief took a lost object that he had found pays the double payment. What is the reason? "For any lost thing of which one says" (Exodus 22:8). They raised an objection against him: "When a man gives" (Exodus 22:6) — the giving of a minor is nothing. And I have only the case where he gave it to him while he was a minor and claimed it from him while he was a minor; from where do I include where he gave it while a minor and claimed it after he had grown up? The verse states "the matter of them both shall come before the judges (the Elohim)" — meaning the giving and the claiming must be as one. And if it were so [that a found object incurs liability like a deposit], let it be like a lost object [which does not require a valid act of giving]. With what are we dealing here? Where he consumed it while he was a minor. Rav Ashi said: they are not comparable. A lost object comes into one's hand through the power of a person of legal competence [the finder], whereas this [a deposit given by a minor] does not come through the power of a person of legal competence.

Themes

LawOral TorahJustice

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