Yerushalmi Bava Batra 7:1 ירושלמי בבא בתרא ז׳:א׳

MISHNAH: If somebody says to another: I am selling you a bet kor¹30 bet se’ah or 75’000 square cubits. of dust²Agricultural land., if there were depressions ten handbreadths deep or rocks ten handbreadths high³They cannot be cultivated with the rest., they are not measured with it⁴To measure the exact size of the area delivered.; less than that they are measured with it. But if he said, about a bet kor of dust, if there were depressions deeper than ten handbreadths or rocks higher than ten handbreadths, they are measured with it.

HALAKHAH: “If somebody says to another: I am selling you a bet kor of dust,” etc. Rebbi Yasa said in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Only if it⁵The depressions or rocky areas. is the smaller part of his field and enclosed in it⁶The total of the area that is difficult or impossible to cultivate must be less than 50% of the total area and cannot be directly accessible from the boundary of the field.. And a rock with a total surface area of a bet rova‘ is not measured with it⁷No single bad area may be more than 1/24 of a bet se’ah or 104 1/6 square cubits. The Babli, 103a, restricts the total area of bad spots in a bet kor to 4 batte rova‘.. If it is in the middle, it is measured, at the side it is not measured. What is a side and what is in the middle? In the House of Rebbi Yannai they said, any place surrounded by a ploughed area is in the middle; any place not surrounded by a ploughed area⁸“In the middle” means at least four cubits removed from the boundary line of the property. Four cubits is the customary space needed for the plough and the cattle which draw it. is to the side. Rebbi Yose came in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If it was a majority on one side, but if you spread it, it becomes a smaller part, and it is measured with it⁹This is the reading of L. Since later the opposite conclusion is reached by an argument, the readings of L are consistent with one another. The reading of E is: “is not measured.” Then at the end the reading will be “is measured”. This is the reading of Šiṭṭah Mequbeṣet Bava batra 102b, which always quotes from mss.
The question is whether the sale is legitimate if an entire area of the field is not usable for agriculture because of many unusable spots when each in isolation would be insignificant.. How wide¹⁰The Mishnah, while specifying depth or height of an unacceptable obstacle, fails to indicate length or width.? Rebbi Ḥaggai said, up to four cubits. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, up to ten handbreadths¹¹Šiṭṭah Mequbeṣet reads: R. Yannai says, 10 handbreadths, R. Yose bar Abun says, up to 4 cubits.. If there was a depression ten handbreadths deep but less than four¹²The mss., using letters as numerals, fail to indicate whether one refers to handbreadths or cubits. The printer of the editio princeps, spelling out the numeral as a word, by choosing the masculine form is referring to handbreadths. But Šiṭṭah Mequbeṣet(following Rashba and Ritba) quotes the question as about “4 by 4” and this in both Talmudim always refers to 4 by 4 cubits which characterizes the minimum size of a piece of land for which separate title can be acquired. Then it is possible to read the question as referring to depressions less than 10 handbreadths deep but more than 16 square cubits wide, which as a separate area may be rejected by the buyer as a separate field. wide, what is the rule? Let us hear from the following, what Rebbi Yasa said in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: “Only if it is the smaller part of his field and enclosed in it. And a rock with a total surface area of a bet rova‘ is not measured with it. If it was split, it is measured with it.” This means that if the greater part of it was on one side, but if you spread it, it becomes the smaller part and is not measured with it¹³Šiṭṭah Mequbeṣet reads: “is measured with it.” This is the logical consequence of the quote that the rocks be measured with the field if the total area of the rocky surface was more than a bet rova‘ but no single piece of rock was of that size.. If there was a long depression which added up to a bet rova‘?¹⁴The question already was answered in the Mishnah, viz., that this cannot be part of the area sold. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba asked: If it was shaped like sticks, is it measured with it or not? Rebbi Yudan bar Ismael asked: If it was like marble plates, is it measured with it or not?¹⁵It is not clear what these questions mean. Rebbi Isaac bar Tebelai asked: If it was formed like chairs, does he measure from the place of its wall or does he measure from its declivity¹⁶The Mishnah does not specify how the area of depression has to be measured, whether from the upper rim or only on the bottom.? Rav Huna in the name of Rav, [Rebbi] Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Only if the total agricultural area was four bet kor¹⁷The remedy of the Mishnah, that the seller has to give the buyer additional land to make up for the bad spots, only works if there be enough adjacent agricultural land at the seller’s disposal. If the buyer would have to accept a replacement plot separate from the main field, the sale would be annulled..