Chazakah, (or chazokoh) is a Talmudic concept, derived from the Hebrew word חזקה, which can be approximately translated as "strength".
The conceptional terminology is "default status", "agreed properties" or Status quo of an object, land or person − usually when sufficient proof is missing or unavailable. The concept is relevant to many aspects of Talmudic law and Halakha.
There are various ways how something can get the certain state of Chazakah:
- The previous known state, which may include but is not restricted to:
- In a disputed ownership of articles, they would be left in the hands which holds them.
- By disputed ownership of land, it would be left in the hands of the last certain owner (Hebrew: חזקת מרא קמא). The one who argues that he bought off that peace of land, must approve it, unless he is already in for three years when the "Chazakah" changes to his side (see next paragraph).
- In Kashruth, every article is in its previous state (Hebrew: חזקת כשרות), before proven different.
- The automatic acquisition of ownership following three years of undisturbed possession (ancestor of usucapion in Roman law).
- Rules which are based on common belief, since it is true in most cases (Rov). A common example is the belief that most people wouldn't pay their loans until it is due, so one cannot argue before that he already paid without further proof.
- A real-estate transfer could be achieved by "Chazakah", which in this form means that the new owner shows ownership, by doing some kind of construction on the property.
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