Bava Batra 107 – Estate Division and Disagreements in Value Assessment

If two brothers divided inherited land, thinking that they were the only heirs, and then a third brother came from overseas, their original division is void. Inheritors are considered as if they 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 collected land from one of the brothers.

If three judges came to appraise land belonging to orphans, in order to satisfy their debts, and disagreed about the value of the land, claiming respective values of 80, 105, and 120, the land is worth 105. Two against one consider it worth less than 105, and two against one 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: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris- Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration of Independence