Bava Batra 162a (קסב.) — the Talmud in English

Rav Amram said: Because one does not derive legal conclusions from the last line.

What is stated in the last line of a document is not taken into consideration in order to derive practical legal consequences from it. Therefore, the Sages instituted that nothing significant should be written there. For example, if some condition were written there, we would collect by means of this document even without fulfillment of the condition, which would be unlawful. However, a summary of the document, whose details have already been written above, may be written there.

The reason that one does not derive legal conclusions from the last line is that it is difficult for the witnesses to take care to sign immediately adjacent to the end of the document, without leaving any space between their signatures and the text. There is therefore concern that perhaps the holder of the document will add new information in that space, information that was not before the witnesses when they signed. Therefore, they established that the last line is disregarded entirely, and only a summary of the document is written there. From this point onward, there is no need for concern: If the holder of the document does not forge anything or add anything there, no harm will result from our disregarding the last line, since it contains nothing significant. And if he adds information after the last line, in any event we do not take it into consideration.

Rav Naḥman said to Rav Amram: From where do you derive this,

that one does not derive legal conclusions from the last line?

He said to him,

Rav Amram:

As it is taught in a beraita: If he distanced the

witnesses two lines

lines

from the text

of the document,

it is invalid.

But if he distanced

one line

only, it is

valid.

Rav Amram proves:

What is different

about distancing two

lines,

that it is invalid? Because we are concerned

lest he

forge and write,

adding information there. If so,

with one line also

we should be concerned lest he

forge and write?

Rather, is it not so? Learn from this: One does not derive legal conclusions from the last line.

Therefore, only when there are two lines is there concern that he may add two lines and we would come to judge on the basis of the penultimate line.

And we conclude: Indeed,

learn from this!