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.
🏠 What Comes With the House?
Selling a house does not include a wide patio (4+ cubits), a rear room, a roof with guardrail, underground cisterns, or the key. It does include the oven, range, attached door frames, door, beam, and lock. When the seller says 'and everything inside,' all is 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.
🏛️ The Courtyard Encompasses More
A courtyard sale includes all inner and outer buildings, cisterns, cellars, and stores opening into it. Stores facing both ways go by majority use. But the bathhouse and olive press within it are never included unless explicitly stated.
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.)"
🫒🛁 Industrial Facilities
An olive press sale includes the grinding stone, cedar beams, and pressing containers — but not the rotating wheel, beam, or sacks. A bathhouse sale includes the plank room, water-container room, bench room, and towel room — but not the actual planks, containers, or towels.
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🎓 Key Principles
Chapter 25
🏠
Sales Are Generous, Appurtenances Are Not Automatic The default rule is that a sale does not include appurtenances — items connected to but distinct from the main sale. Each appendage requires explicit inclusion or meets a specific threshold (like 4 cubits) to be excluded from the main structure.
🔑
Attached vs. Detachable Items permanently attached with mortar (door frames, range) are included in a house sale; items that are removed for use (key, window frames for decoration) are not. The key distinction is whether the item serves the house's structure vs. its movable function.
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Path Rights Follow the Retained Property When a seller retains a cistern or pit but sells the house around it, he must purchase a right of way from the buyer to access it. This rule embodies the principle that sellers sell generously — the buyer gets full, unencumbered use of the house.
⚖️
Giving Is More Generous Than Selling When property is given as a gift, the recipient acquires all appurtenances (cisterns, presses, dovecotes) without exception. When sold, only those explicitly included or meeting the standard thresholds are transferred. Givers give generously, sellers sell generously — but gifts are the maximum.