Yerushalmi Ketubot 8:4 ירושלמי כתובות ח׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: If she inherited money; real estate should be bought²⁶Since it is the husband’s duty to preserve his wife’s property. In the economic environment of the later Roman Empire, real estate was the only investment guaranteed to keep its value (investments appropriate for the guardian of widows and orphans). Simce the husband is required to pay for all her needs, she has no direct use for the cash she inherited. with it and he eats its yield. For produce cut from the ground, real estate should be bought and he eats its yield; with produce connected to the ground, Rebbi Meïr says one has to estimate how much the property²⁷The field in which the crop is standing. is worth with produce and how much without, for the difference real estate should be bought²⁸Since R. Meïr holds that a crop is yield only if it grew under his care. and he eats its yield. But the Sages say, standing produce is his²⁹Since it is yield., cut it is hers; real estate should be bought from it and he eats its yield.

HALAKHAH: “If she inherited money; real estate should be bought,” etc. Rebbi Jeremiah said, this is Rebbi Meïr’s opinion since Rebbi Meïr considers standing [produce] as if it were cut³⁰This refers to Mishnah Ševuot 6:6. In rabbinic interpretation, Ex. 22:8 defines when an oath is required by the court: “About any criminal matter, about an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or anything lost, if he agrees that this is it, the suit shall be heard by the judges …” This is read to mean that an oath is needed if the defendant agrees that the plaintiff has a case but that he owes less than what is being claimed (cf. Mekhilta dR. Ismael, Mišpaṭim 15). The part of the claim in dispute is what the claimant considers criminal withholding of his property by the defendant. If the defendant rejects the entire claim, the claimant has to prove his case by witnesses or documents; if the defendant admits part of the claim the claimant can request that he swear not to owe more. But since the examples given in the verse are all about movables, it is concluded that claims of real estate cannot be resolved by an oath (Mishnah Ševuot6:5). On that, R. Meïr states that “some things are on the ground but are not real estate”. The example given is that the claim is “I handed over to you (to harvest and make wine from) ten vines full of fruit” but the defendant claims “there were ony five.” In that case, R. Meïr requires the defendant to swear but the Sages hold that anything connected to the ground is like real estate.
Since the produce on the field is considered as the wife’s capital, not the husband’s produce, R. Jeremiah infers that the Mishnah does not represent practice since it follows R. Meïr in a case in which the majority disagrees.. Rebbi Yose said, he did not hear that Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina said, Rebbi Meïr said this only for standing grain ready to be harvested and grapes ready to be harvested; therefore not unripe produce³¹Cf. Yebamot 15:3, Note 79; Babli Ševuot 43a.. But here³²The case of the wife’s inheritance is not restricted to ripe produce., even unripe produce. Rebbi Jeremiah³³This attribution is impossible. Rebbi Jeremiah cannot ask a question answered by his teacher’s teacher’s teacher R. Joḥanan. It might be Rav Jeremiah, one generation before R. Joḥanan. asked, are not the arguments of Rebbi Meïr contradictory? There³⁴In Mishnah Ševuot 6:6., he did not consider standing [produce] as if it were cut, but here³²The case of the wife’s inheritance is not restricted to ripe produce. he considers standing [produce] as if it were cut. Rebbi Joḥanan said, Rebbi Meïr does not consider standing [produce] as if it were cut. But if you see cut grain, you empower the woman³⁵Cut grain is as good as coin for an inheritance.; if you see an unseeded field³⁶This has to be tended; the husband will reap the fruits., you empower the man. In case of doubt you estimate how much it is worth unseeded and how much seeded. If before it was seeded it was worth (two denars)³⁷Obviously, the numbers have to be switched since 1 < 2. and when it was seeded (one denar), with that denar real estate should be bought and he reaps its yield.