Bava Metzia 2 - March 1, 21 Adar 1

If two people are holding onto a tallit - each one claiming they found it or each claiming it belongs entirely to them, the Mishna rules that each one swears that no less than half is theirs and they split it (or sell it and split the value). If one claims it is entirely theirs and the other claims that half is theirs, one takes an oath that no less than three-quarters belongs to him/her and the other takes an oath on one-quarter and the item is split accordingly. The law would be the same if two people were arguing about an animal and both were riding on it or one was riding and one was leading it. The Gemara suggests two different explanations as to why the first case in the Mishna had each person making two different statements - "I found it" and "It is completely mine.” Are these considered one case and the extra statement is meant to teach something additional or are there two different cases? If it is one case, the extra wording of "I found it" is meant to teach that the finder does not acquire rights to an object if one sees a lost item but does not lift it. After rejecting this reading of the Mishna, Rav Papa explains that the Mishna refers to two different cases – the first is a lost item and the second is a purchased item that each side claims the seller sold to him/her. In the case of a sale, the seller only agreed to sell it to one of the two but both paid for it. The Gemara compares our ruling in the Mishna to other tannatic opinions brought in similar cases of disputed money where different methods are employed to resolve the dispute. The Gemara first suggests that our Mishna does not hold by those tannaim, but then concludes that the Mishna may hold by those opinions as the cases have significant differences that could explain why in one case the ruling would be different than in another.