Q&A: A Lender Who Wants to Back Out
A Lender Who Wants to Back Out
Question
Can someone who lent out a work tool, whose other tool in his possession then broke and who now has no tool, back out of the loan on the basis of a clear presumption that he would not have lent the tool had he been in circumstances where he himself did not have such a tool?
Answer
On the face of it, no, because a “mistaken transaction” applies only to facts that were true at the moment the transaction was made. This happened afterward. But there are places in the Talmud where we also see considerations of “with this understanding” that deal with future events (such as “with the understanding of going up to the Land of Israel,” and so on. I discussed this in my rabbinical court ruling regarding the annulment of kiddushin). Therefore, if there is strong enough clarification here, there is room for this claim.