their possession over him, so he is like the child and the garment. Our position is that he only ruled for his enslavement based on his confession, so he was a slave to the one to whom he confessed, just as if he were not in his possession. He differs from the garment and the child; for ownership is obtained in them through possession, and they are equal in it, whereas here it was obtained by confession, and one of them was singled out by it, so it is exclusive to him. If each of them establishes evidence that he is his slave, they contradict each other and are discarded, or lots are drawn between them, or he is divided between them, according to the details that have already passed regarding it. If we say they are discarded and he does not confess his enslavement to either of them, he is free. If he confesses to one of them, he belongs to the one to whom he confessed. If he acknowledges both of them together, he is between them, because the two pieces of evidence were discarded and became like they never existed. If we say he is subject to lots or division, and he denies them, no attention is paid to his denial. If he confesses to one of them, no attention is paid to his confession, because his slavery is established by evidence, so he has no possession remaining over himself, just as we said in the case where two men claim a house that is in the possession of a third, and each of them establishes evidence that it is his property, and he acknowledges that it is not his, then he confesses that it is for one of them; his confession does not carry weight.

Section: If a young girl is in his possession and he claims marriage to her, it is not accepted from him, and he is not to be left alone with her. If he claims her enslavement, it is accepted from him if she is a child who cannot express herself, because possession is evidence of ownership. As for the one who claims marriage, he is acknowledging her freedom or that she is not owned by him, and possession is not established over a free person. If she grows up and confesses the marriage to him, her confession is accepted.

Section: If a person claims ownership of an item and establishes evidence for it, and another person claims that he sold it to him, or gave it to him as a gift, or endowed it upon him, or his wife claims that he gave it to her as her dowry, or that he freed it, and he establishes evidence for that, judgment is rendered in his favor without any disagreement that we are aware of; because this person's evidence testified to a matter that was hidden from the other evidence, and the other evidence testified to the origin, so it is possible that it was his property, then he did with it what...