Sunday, July 13, 2014

Compelling a debtor to swear to his poverty, Part 3 of 3

Hi,

[continued from yesterday's post]

Preface: In order to encourage payment of debts, the sages enacted a rule permitting a creditor to demand that a debtor in default swear that he does not have the means to pay his debt. Regarding this, Rambam comments:

"The general principle is this: As long as a judge does one of these things, and his intent is only to pursue righteousness, which we have been instructed to pursue, and not to trespass the law [in abuse of] one of the litigants, he is licensed to do it and he will be rewarded – so long as his deeds are for the sake of heaven."

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Lender and Borrower 2:4)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

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