Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Choshen Mishpat/320

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Paragraph 1- One who rents a field from another to plant it, one who pays to consume the fruits of a vineyard and one who rents using fruits as payment all have the same law. One who rents for fruits is referred to as a “lessee.”

Paragraph 2- If one accepts a field or a garden to work it and incur expenses and he will give 1/3 or ¼ of the grain to the owner of the property or whatever arrangement they agree to, is referred to as “one who accepts.” There would be no document written between them without the consent of both parties because once the document is written they cannot retract and it has the status of a documented loan. The party that accepts pays for the cost of writing the document.

Paragraph 3- The owner of the property is responsible for any matter that is essential to the earth. The party that accepts or the lessee is responsible for anything that is extra protection. The owner of the land is responsible for the tool used to dig in the earth, the vessels used to carry the earth, the bucket and the jug anything similar used to draw water. The lessee or party accepting is responsible for the digging of the areas where water gathers. There are those who say the lessee has no claims against the owner, and this seems correct to me.

Paragraph 4- In both a case of one who leases and one who accepts, in a place where the custom is to harvest the grain he may not uproot it. If the custom is to uproot, he may not harvest. If either party comes to deviate, the other party may stop him. In a place where the custom is to plow after harvesting, he must plow, even if there is no custom to weed the bad grass and he did so. If the sharecropper specified while weeding that he was doing it so that he does not have to plow and the owner of the field was silent, the owner has revealed to us that he is satisfied with this arrangement. If the custom is to weed and he does not want to do so, we would not listen to him, even if he wants to plow after harvesting in order to uproot the grass.

Paragraph 5- If the custom is that where one leases a field without specifying he receives his portion in the trees, the lessee would receive his share, even if the field-owner added to the share the lessee takes. He cannot say he gave him a larger portion so that he does not receive his share in the trees. If the custom is not take a portion in the trees, the trees would belong to the field-owner, even if the lessee gave the field-owner a larger portion.