THE "SOUND" OF NEWS

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: DOCUMENT OR WITNESSES?

What makes a transaction public knowledge? Rav gives conflicting messages. In one instance he says that only when a document is written can we assume that the transaction is public knowledge.

Rav was referring to a case were someone bought a field and sold it to a second person, who then sold it to a third person. Rav rules that when the buyers collectively occupy the field for three years they have a Chazakah, a legal assumption that the field belongs to the buyer, because three years past without a protest from the Original owner. Since all of the sales were documented the original owner can't claim that he had no idea that the three people that occupied his field bought it from each other giving them the right to a chazakah,

In another instance Rav said that a transaction in the presence of two witnesses is considered public knowledge.

In the second statement Rav said that if one sells a field in the presence of two witnesses all of the seller's real property is placed in lien, securing the buyer against the seller's creditors.

It seems that Rav's statements are conflicting, are witnesses sufficient to create public knowledge or must there be a document?

THE IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: HOW MUCH NOISE IS NEEDED?

The Talmud explains that it depends on the specifics of the case and on the amount of "noise" that is necessary. In the case of the lein, we expect a responsible buyer to research the prospective field, and he will therefoe be able to discover the lien that was observed by two witnesses.

In the case of the first case, however, the original owner is not expected to do any research. A greater "noise" is necessary in order for the news of the second and third transaction to reach someone who is not actively researching the ownership of a field. therefore, argues Rav, only a document can generate that amoumt of "sound".

Baba Basra 41b