Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Choshen Mishpat/55

Paragraph 1- One who paid back a portion of his debt and gave the document to a third party and said “if I do not pay you back by such and such date, give the lender the document” and the borrower did not pay at that time, the third party should not give over the document because this is an asmachta, which is not a valid kinyan. If they made a kinyan on it in a prestigious court, the party would acquire the document, so long as his rights were being held by the court and an unforeseen occurrence did not occur. How so? If the court is holding on to his document or receipt and they made a kinyan from him that if he does not come by such and such date, then it should be given to his adversary, and the day comes and he does not show up, the court would give it. If he was held up by a river or by a sickness, they would not give it. The same applies to anything similar, so long as it was in a prestigious court. There are those that say that we do not require the court hold on to his document if they have a made a kinyan in a prestigious court, which is three individuals who are experts in the laws of asmachta. See later Siman 207. If a third party gives over a document to the lender that he was not supposed to, we put a shmuti on the third party until he accepts any damages that result to the borrower because of this. If the court is aware that that it was returned illegally, they would not judge on the basis of that document. If the court was unaware and they took all the money from the borrower and it subsequently became known that the third party returned the document illegally, the third party is exempt because it is an indirect damage.

Paragraph 2- When is it true that we give the document to a party’s adversary? Where he says, “If I do not pay back by such and such date, the money that I gave shall be considered a gift and the document shall remain in its original state,” because otherwise it would be a document whose lien was waived for the portion that was paid and the lender would not be able to collect anything other than unencumbered properties.