Chapter: The ruling on gains and offspring that accrue to property claimed by a creditor

A creditor of a bankrupt debtor has no right to take the offspring of livestock or beasts of burden that he had sold to the debtor, nor the yield produced by such property, nor the wages earned by a slave once those earnings have been disbursed. His claim is limited to the very animals or slaves themselves if he can locate them; whatever offspring, yield, wages, or fruit have already disappeared lie beyond his reach.

If a man sells a female slave who, while in the buyer’s possession, gives birth and then dies leaving the child alive, the seller may repossess the child for the full purchase price. Should the child die and the mother remain alive, he may repossess the mother for the full price, and the child’s death does not lessen what is due. If the buyer has sold either the child or the mother, the seller may take whichever one remains, in proportion to the original price.

If someone purchases oil, pours it into his own jars, and is declared bankrupt before paying its price, the vendor is more entitled to that oil than the rest of the creditors. Likewise, if he buys gold dinars and mixes them with coins he already possesses in his purse before the price has been settled.