5 ms·

Since you can't undo a cut, the one with the fewest cuts would be the legitimate one.

• chrisseaton 6y ago
  > the one with the fewest cuts would be the legitimate one How's that? If I throw away my old half, split a new one, and add fewer cuts to it, you'd apparently assume it was the legitimate one, but it wouldn't be.
  • jedimastert 6y ago
    If you make a new one it will be fairly obvious that it doesn't match the original sticks after looking at the grain
    • chrisseaton 6y ago
      > that it doesn't match the original sticks Lol but which is the original? That's the point. If you have two that don't match you don't know which one is the legitimate one you just know that they don't match and at least one is not legitimate.
      • jedimastert 6y ago
        You make a good point. There could be a couple of solutions to this: 1. Have an artisan make the sticks. These required tools to make, and I don't know how prevalent the tools were, so it's entirely possible that it would be completely infeasible for anyone not the local carpenter to make these sticks, and would also make him a sort of arbitrating third party.
      • shaftway 6y ago
        It doesn't matter which one is the original. The creditor has a stick with the debtor's imprint or mark on it of some kind. That's enough. Presenting a false stick as the debtor doesn't undo the existence of the creditor's stiick, and is essentially claiming that you have both debts. Otherwise you, as the debtor, could just throw your stick away, claim the creditor's is false, and be done with it.
        • chrisseaton 6y ago
          If the debtor claims the creditor's stick is fraudulent how is that resolved? The tally stick doesn't solve this problem.