Reply To: Chometz Now – Where May We Buy it?

1. If there’s no corporation then what is the “business” that he is selling? That is the distinction I was making in the original comment. Even if there’s no corporation on paper, he may be treating it as if it were a corporation, in which case it would be the same thing. But generally if it is set up that way then he will have a corporation; if he doesn’t then he isn’t running it that way.

2. Yerusha is different, because it’s not really momonos. There’s a specific mitzvah involved. Still, even there I believe that if a person left no will and dina demalchusa now says so much of the estate belongs to Reuven and so much to Sarah, then that is dina. We can say that after the yerusha al pi torah was chal, then the dina malchusa rearranged it and that is the final disposition.

But certainly in other financial topics, yes, a beis din must determine what the dina demalchusa is, and pasken accordingly, unless the parties specifically agree to be judged by Choshen Mishpot instead, which dina demalchusa allows.

On the “tzibur of one” you just agreed with me. When a second Jew moves into town he is automatically a 50% owner of everything that belongs to the tzibur. That proves that the tzibur has its own existence, and is not simply its current members. Because if it were simply its members then when it was down to one he inherited everything, so how could the new person be entitled to anything? How can the first person suddenly lose half of the assets without his consent? That proves that the assets were never his, they were the tzibur’s, i.e. the tzibur, even with only one member, remained a corporate entity and was not subsumed into his personal rechush. A privately held corporation would therefore have the same din. It’s a separate entity from its sole shareholder, and when he sells the shares it is now the new owner’s.