Bava Metzia 76: Partial Completion of a Contract

Today's daf is almost completely composed of the Gemara on yesterday's last Mishna.  We learned that artisans/labourers who get into conflict with each other have no financial claim on the person who hired them.  We also learned that one who changes a contract or who reneges on a contract is at a disadvantage.  

The Gemara begins by clarifying what is meant by this first comment.  We are not discussing a case where an artisan has a disagreement with his or her employer.  Instead this Mishna refers to a time when two artisans/labourers are in conflict with each other. This could only be the case if a hired artisan or labourer subcontracted a piece of his/her work.  The Gemara wonders about labourers who are hired for four dinars and then subcontract to others for less.  The rabbis name circumstances where these labourers might be in conflict with each other. 

The Gemara then discusses cases where an agent is hired by a woman to retrieve her get from her husband.  This case is tricky.  A get must be signed and witnessed by the husband and then presented to a woman's own hand for her to be divorced.  If she hired the agent to bring the get back to her, then she is divorced when he returns with the get.  If she hired the agent to retrieve the get from her husband, she is not necessarily divorced - if the agent loses the get on his way back to her, she is not divorced.  Further, the agent himself might claim that he is an agent for delivery or an agent for receipt, and the husband would have to believe this claim.

The Gemara then considers work that is not completed as assigned.  People will pay partial money for a job partially done.  Is this cause for complaint?  The Gemara compares two labourers who are meant to be paid the same wage, one who is lazy and one who works very hard.  The Gemara also considers one who surveys a field and deems it ready to be tilled and then awakens to a field that has been flooded.  How should payment be determined in this case without calling the employer?

The establishment of partial wages as a standard payment option in cases of "acts of G-d" is an important part of any working society.