Bava Batra 47 – Interested Party in a Lawsuit (Civil)

A person is disqualified from testifying in a matter in which he has a material interest. Can a sharecropper testify on behalf of his employer concerning the land on which he is working?

If there is unharvested fruit in the field, he cannot testify. The sharecropper has a material interest because if someone else proves to be the actual owner of the field, the sharecropper will not collect his full share of the unharvested fruit.

However, he can testify if there is no fruit in the field. Though advancing his employer's cause might protect his job as a sharecropper in this field, he knows that many other sharecropping jobs are available to him. Moreover, he knows that his employer is not obligated to continue to employ him. Therefore, his interest in the outcome of the case is negligible.

Art: In The Orchard Haylands Graffham by Henry Herbert La Thangue