Lesson # 286 • Changes in Stolen Objects

Halacha speaks of three classes of changes that may happen to the object while in the possession of the thief:
Class (1) Physical change in the object;
Class (2) Change in name;
Class (3) Change in possession.
In these lessons it should be remembered that many of the laws that apply to a thief apply equally to a robber.
Under certain circumstances if any of these three classes of change takes place in the object, the thief need not return the object, but rather pays for the value of the object at the time of the theft. If there is a double, fourfold or fivefold penalty involved, the thief also pays them. Under those conditions the change to the object acts as an act of acquisition of the object by the thief.

Class 1: Physical change in the Object
If Reuven, the thief, makes an irreversible physical change in the stolen object, he acquires ownership of the object but he must pay Shimon for the object that he stole from him valued at the time of the theft. This is true whether or not the physical change enhances the value of the object.

For example, Reuven steals wood and makes the wood into a closet; this may or may not be an irrevocable change in the object. The change must be one that is irreversible; if the nails could be taken out of the closet and the boards are the same as before, this is not such a change in the object, and the boards must be returned to Shimon. But if Reuven steals wooden boards, cuts the boards into smaller pieces, planes the boards or makes holes in the wood, this is an irreversible physical change in the object, whether or not he made a closet out of them. By making this irreversible change, Reuven acquires title to the changed object; Reuven must make payment (including any penalties) for the object valued at the time of the theft. A physical change may be irreversibly altering the color, such as dying yellow wool black. Some of the types of change mentioned in the codes: stole clay and made bricks, an reversible change since the bricks can be ground down into clay (some say this is only if the bricks were hardened in the sun, but if hardened in a kiln, it is deemed irreversible); stole metal and made a coin, which is reversible by melting down the coin. Stole bricks ground to clay, or coins melted down to metal, which are irreversible since they can never be the same bricks if refired or the same coin if recoined, even if made with a mold. If there is not an irreversible physical change in the object, the boards must be returned to Shimon, rather than a money payment. Reuven acquires title to the object by the irreversible change in the object even if the owner, Shimon, has not yet abandoned hope of the object being returned to him.

Class 2: Change in Name
For example, Reuven steals a lamb and now it is a sheep, or steals a calf and now it is a cow, or steals a beam and now it is a roof. (Community standards will be controlling as to whether there is a change of name.) By the change of name, Reuven acquires title to the object that now bears another name; Reuven must make payment (including any penalties) for the object valued at the time of the theft. Reuven acquires title to the object by this change even if the owner, Shimon, has not abandoned hope of the object being returned to him.

Class 3: Change in Possession
Reuven steals an object from Shimon and he sells it or gives it to another person, Levi. (This section does not apply to the heirs of Reuven who inherit the object when Reuven dies.) Under certain circumstances, depending upon when Shimon abandons hope of the object ever being restored to him, Levi may acquire title to the object without having to make any payment to Shimon. Shimon can sue Reuven for the value of the object. It is designated a change in possession only if Levi is an innocent purchaser for value from Reuven or a donee from Reuven without knowledge of the theft.

Abandonment of Hope of Recovery
Shimon realizes that the object has been stolen and gives up hope of ever recovering the object. This, in and of itself does not transfer title of the object to Reuven, the thief. Reuven must return the object to Shimon; Reuven does not have the option to pay Shimon for the object. There is a minority opinion that just the abandonment of hope by the owner is sufficient, by Rabbinic decree, to transfer title to the stolen object to the thief. He will have to pay Shimon for the object valued a the time of the theft. There is an opinion that if there was a change in the object that is reversible accompanied by an abandonment of hope by the owner of recovering the object, Reuven acquires title to the object; he must pay Shimon for the object.

Change in the value of the stolen object
There is, as stated so many times here, that the thief must restore the object, if it is available to him; if not as it was at the time of the theft he has to pay for the object’s value at the time it was stolen. Sometimes there is a natural physical change that brings about a change in the value of the object from the time it was stolen to the time that payment for it is made.

If Reuven steals an object, animal or inanimate, worth $4 when he steals it but worth only $2 at the time of trial brought by Shimon to recover his object, Reuven must pay its value at the time of the theft ($4) and in case of theft must pay the double, fourfold or fivefold penalty valued at the time of the trial. If the stolen object is worth $2 when stolen and $4 at the time of the trial, and if Reuven breaks or destroys the object, he must pay $2 for the object and in the case of theft he must pay the double, fourfold or fivefold penalty as of the value at the time of trial. However, if the object is lost or destroyed without Reuven breaking or destroying it, he pays the penalty based on the value at the time of the theft. Reuven does not have the option to tell Shimon to take the broken pieces and to pay the balance.

The subject matter of this lesson is more fully discussed in volume IX chapters 353 and 354 of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law by E. Quint. Copies of all volumes can be purchased via email: orders@gefenpublishing.com and via website: www.israelbooks.com and at local Judaica bookstores. Questions to quint@inter.net.il

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