Legal Bills of Divorce
Any get which is not written [expressly] for the woman [for whom it is intended] is invalid. How is this so? If a man was passing through the street and heard the voice of a scribe dictating, “So-and-so divorces so-and-so from such and such a place,” and he says, “that is my name and that is the name of my wife,” it is not a valid [document] with which to divorce his wife. Moreover, if he wrote [a get] with which to divorce his wife and changed his mind, and a person found him and said to him, “My name is the same as yours, and my wife’s name is the same as your wife’s,” it is not a valid [document with which the second] may divorce his wife. Moreover, if he had two wives with the same name and wrote a get with which to divorce the elder, he may not use it to divorce the younger. Moreover, if he said to the scribe, “Write [a get], and I will divorce whichever I choose,” it is not a valid [document] with which to divorce his wife.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.