[Avodah] money and halakhah

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:01:27 -0400
Zev Sero <zev at sero.name> wrote:

> Whereas if you destroy a $20 note, what happens?  It's gone.  There
> *is* no "chov", there never was one.

Note that the Treasury may replace mutilated or destroyed notes, even
if less than fifty percent of the note is present, according to these
articles.  [I am not claiming that this is necessarily relevant to the
Halachos under discussion.]:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/06/2001-06-03-money.htm

The government has some rules for paying people the full value for
damaged greenbacks. More than 50% of a note identified as genuine U.S.
currency must be present, or 50% or less can be present as long as the
Treasury is satisfied that the missing portions have been totally
destroyed. Officials do that by looking at the method of mutilation and
any supporting evidence.

http://www.bankjr.com/pground/moneytech/mutilatedMoney.jsp 	

     The Office of Currency Standards, located in the Bureau of
Printing and Engraving, uses experts to examine the mutilated currency
and will okay the writing of a Treasury check for the value of the
currency determined to be redeemable.

     Mutilated currency is money that is less than half the original
note, or in such bad condition that its value is questionable and
special examination is needed to determine the value of the paper money.

> Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's

Yitzhak
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