Bava Batra 107 – Estate Division and Disagreements in Value Assessment

If two brothers divide inherited land, thinking that they were the only heirs, and then a third brother comes from overseas, their original division is void. Inheritors are considered to have bought their respective portions from each other, so it was a mistaken sale, and they will have to redivide. The same law applies when their father's creditor collects land from one of the brothers.

If three judges came to appraise land belonging to orphans to satisfy their debts and disagreed about its value, claiming respective values of 80, 105, and 120, the land would be worth 105. Two against one would consider it worth less than 105, and two against one would consider it worth more than 105. Other approaches include throwing away the highest value or considering that the judge mentally adjusts his estimate to be closer to his friends' numbers.

Art: Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration of Independence by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris