Our Rebbe said that if someone lives on your land for at least 3 years, and says he paid you for the land, even if he cannot produce a Bill of Sale, the land is his, since you did not question his living there. I thought we had a similar Gemorrah in the past, but there was no Bill of Sale, just the fact that the person lived there for a period without opposition. In Common law, that is called Squatters Rights. Does any one remember that previous Gemarrah. Please Help
Howard Wolfe, Toronto, Canada
I think you must be remembering the Gemara in Bava Kama 20a, which discusses another aspect of squatters: If someone lives in an private but abandoned apartment (which is not normally rented out), can the owner of the apartment demand payment from the squatter? (This is called "Zeh Neheneh v'Zeh Lo Chaser").
Of course the question of Chezkas Shalosh Shanim (which you described in your letter) appears in many places in Shas, among them (from recent Dafyomi) Kesuvos 80a, but my guess is that you mean the gemara mentioned above.
Mordecai Kornfeld