Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Choshen Mishpat/24

by Yosef Karo

Paragraph 1- We deal with the plaintiff’s case first. If the defendant’s properties are depreciating, we deal with his claims first. This means that if Reuven claims money from Shimon in a situation where Shimon cannot claim he paid back, and Shimon counterclaims and seeks more than 30 days to bring witnesses, which is the time frame the court works with, we deal with the plaintiff’s claim first and Shimon must pay immediately even though we know that Shimon does indeed have witnesses on the matter, unless Shimon’s properties are depreciating and he will suffer damage. The same applies if the plaintiff wants his words to be heard before the defendant’s, if the plaintiff requests that the court not provide their ruling yet and should wait until he wants it or if the defendant is required to swear to the plaintiff and the plaintiff asks that he not swear yet and wait until he wants or anything similar, such as a case where he says I have many claims that he does not want to claim at this point. In all these cases we would listen to the plaintiff unless the defendant’s properties were depreciating or the judges see that the defendant will suffer damage