For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 114
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Our new Mishna teaches that when a customs collector seizes a person's donkey and replaces it with one stolen from another Jew - or if a bandit does the same with a garment - then the stolen item now belongs to that person. The Rambam and the Rosh argue about whether or not such an item must be returned to its original owner or not. Similarly, it is permitted to keep items salvaged from a river or a fire. As long as the original owner considers the item to be lost to him/her, then the item need not be returned.
The Gemara opens by quoting a baraita that teaches that when the person receives an object in exchange for his own from the mokhes, he should return it to the original owner. The explanation for this ruling would be that simple ye’ush does not suffice to allow for transfer of ownership.
An alternative reading of the baraita suggests that although the recipient can keep the object because of the owner’s ye’ush, he would likely return it to the original owner, since a person does not want to keep property that does not really belong to him.
We focus on testifying, loyalty and secular courts.