Bava Batra 85a — the Talmud in English

His vessels

acquire for him:

in a side-street and

in every place,

even in the seller’s domain,

except for the public domain

or the domain of a third person , where his vessels do not acquire for him, even if the seller said to him explicitly: “Let your vessel acquire for you.”

And Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish both say:

A person’s vessels acquire for him in every place,

even in the public domain.

He said,

he explained,

Rav Pappa: They do not disagree;

there is no dispute here between Rav and Shmuel and Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish.

Here,

Rav and Shmuel, who said: “except for the public domain,” were speaking

of the actual public domain,

and in the actual public domain, according to everyone, a person’s vessels do not acquire for him.

Here,

Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish, who said: “even in the public domain,” were speaking

of a side-street,

and in a side-street, according to everyone, a person’s vessels acquire for him.

And

if you will wonder:

Why did they call it

Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish by the name

“public domain”!?

Your answer: Since

it is not

a

“private domain”

in the actual sense, there is therefore room to call a side-street by the name “public domain.”

And the Gemara adds:

This too is reasonably demonstrable,

in accordance with Rav Pappa’s words, that in the actual public domain Rabbi Yoḥanan did not say that a person’s vessels acquire for him.

For

this

is what Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: A person’s vessels acquire for him wherever he has permission

to place it.

It follows that specifically in a place where he

has permission

to place it,

yes, his vessel indeed acquires for him; but if he

his vessel acquires the item for him. But if he

does not have permission

to place his vessel there,

no, his vessel does not acquire for him.

his vessel does not acquire the item for him.

Infer from this:

In the actual public domain, Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish agree that a person’s vessel does not acquire for him, since he has no permission to place his vessel there.

And we object:

Come and hear

from a beraita that even in the actual public domain a person’s vessel acquires for him:

Four measures,

four different laws were stated

with regard to sellers

concerning acquisition through vessels:

A person who lends a measuring vessel to the seller in order to measure with it for the buyer intends that until the seller completes the act of measuring, the vessel will be lent to the seller, and immediately when the measuring is completed, the vessel will be lent to the buyer, until he stores his purchase or transfers it into his own vessel. When the seller measures the produce for the buyer, the law is as follows:

Until it has been filled

the

measure

[the measuring vessel], as long as the seller is occupied with measuring, the measure is in the

seller’s domain,

and the buyer has not yet acquired it.

Once it has been filled

the

measure,

and the seller is no longer occupied with measuring, the measure is in the

buyer’s domain

to take his purchase with it, and the buyer acquired the produce as though the measure were truly the buyer’s vessel.

When are these words said? With a measure that belongs to neither of them,

but to a third person, who lent them his vessels.

But if the measure belonged to one of them,

to the buyer or to the seller —

the owner acquires first by first

the measure.

If the measure belongs to the buyer, he acquires “first by first,” meaning every small amount that enters the vessel—the buyer acquires it—even though the measure has not been filled and the seller is still occupied with measuring. Nevertheless, the buyer acquired it, since the vessel was his from the outset, and a person’s vessel acquires for him.

And if the measure belongs to the seller, the buyer does not acquire it even though the measure has been filled, and the produce remains in the seller’s domain forever, until the buyer performs meshikha.

And

when are these words said? In the public domain

and in a courtyard

[or in a courtyard]

that belongs to neither of them,

but to a third person who did not give them permission to measure there.

Thus far are the first and second laws of the beraita:

A. With a measure belonging to neither of them, in the public domain or in a courtyard belonging to neither of them—once the measure is filled, the buyer acquires.

B. With a measure belonging to one of them, in the public domain or in a courtyard belonging to neither of them—the owner acquires first by first.

And the third law:

But

if the seller measured for the buyer

in the seller’s domain, the buyer did not acquire

the buyer

until he lifts it,

and acquires the produce through the acquisition of “lifting,”

or until he removes it from his domain

of the seller into his own domain or into a side-street.

And the fourth law:

And if the seller measured for the buyer

in

his

domain, once the seller accepted upon himself

the

seller,

that he agreed to the sale and said to him: “All these fruits are acquired by you, at such-and-such a price for each se’a,”

the buyer acquired

the

buyer

immediately, even without measuring.

And the beraita further adds: If the seller measured for the buyer

in the domain

of

the other,

[that person] with whom

the

produce

was deposited, he did not acquire

the buyer,

until he accepts upon himself

the depositary’s designating permission for the buyer to acquire the produce, or until the buyer rents

their place

and acquires them through the acquisition of “courtyard.”

Now the Gemara returns to the discussion of whether a person's vessels acquire for him in the public domain: behold,

at any rate it teaches [על כל פנים שנינו]in any event we learned in the beraita: if it was a measure belonging to one of them, the first one acquired one by one,

[in any event, we learned] in a baraita: If it was a measuring vessel belonging to one of them, each portion was acquired immediately

in the public domain and in a courtyard belonging to neither of them.