For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 167
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Steinsaltz Writes:
When a legal document is drawn up to attest to a loan or a business transaction, which of the two parties pays the cost of the scribe?
Logically it would make sense to say that the individual who will benefit from having a clear legal record of the transaction should pay the costs. Thus, the lender, who will need this documentation in order to collect the debt, would appear to be the one who should pay.
According to the Mishna, it is the borrower who will pay the scribe’s wages, similarly it is the purchaser who will pay for the receipt to be written. In other cases where a contract or legal document needs to be written, we find:
That the husband will pay the costs of a shetar kiddushin – a marriage document
That the sharecropper will pay the costs of the tenant agreement
That both parties will share the expense when they have a court case.
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