I have considered this question. Since all the members of the community, including the people associated with the villages, agreed to combine the levy imposed upon all the villages and to assess each village according to the extent of its landed property, they’re bound by that agreement.

They also agreed to share the cost of the payments made to avert coercion against them. They put this agreement into writing and signed it. A portion of the community therefore has no authority to annul what was accepted.

Whatever the inhabitants of a locality agree to impose upon themselves is binding. They have the authority to establish rules governing their affairs according to their common agreement.

Our sages taught:

“The inhabitants of a town may establish regulations concerning prices, measures and workers’ wages, and they may impose penalties for violating their decisions.”

A portion of the community consequently has no authority to annul the regulation until everyone agrees to its cancellation. We follow the established principle that a measure adopted by a formally constituted body requires another body to release it.

This is the law in their case.

The Hebrew text appears as responsum 165 in Joel Müller’s Teshuvot Ge’onei Mizraḥ u-Ma’arav.