ABSTRACT
The Bible, more concerned with agrarian and pastoral economies than the urban, discusses bailment—the act of placing something in the trust of someone else—rather than mercantile partnership as such. But partnership cannot exist without trust, and the Bible’s laws of bailment form the underpinnings of rabbinic laws of partnership. This brief passage lays out the basics of a bailee’s liability—if the bailment is stolen on his watch, the bailee must swear that he was neither complicit nor negligent in the theft. If the thief is found, the thief pays twice the value of the stolen item. See also A21 , B3 .
