The Power of the Rabbis

There is a concept in Jewish Law called, הפקר בית דין הפקר, meaning that the Jewish courts were given the rights to declare property ownerless.

It is similar to the idea of “eminent domain” in American law.

The idea behind this concept is that it was necessary that all monetary matters were under the jurisdiction of the Jewish courts. Without this, the courts would be weak and they would have difficulty in enforcing monetary laws. It was for the good of society.

This also created leverage in enforcing court decisions. If they ruled that someone was owed money, they could confiscate the property of the one holding the debt.

There are two sources in Scriptures that are the source for this rule. In the Book of Ezra, he warns the general population that if they do not join him on his journey to Israel within three days, their property would be confiscated. Ezra had the power to this as he was also motivated to stop intermarriage.

The second source came from Joshua and his distribution of the Land of Israel to the respective tribes. The heads of the tribes were given the authority to allocate the land as they saw fit.

There could be no argument because they carried the rights for such distributions. It is important to note that this was not a random right decided by individuals. It represented a right that was G-d given in order to improve society and maintain its stability.