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Perek 4

Mishnayos Bava Kamma Perek 4 Mishnah 1

בבא קמא פרק ד׳ משנה א׳

1
With regard to an innocuous ox that gored four or five other oxen one after the other, its owner shall pay the owner of the last one of them half of the damages from the proceeds of the sale of the belligerent ox; and if there is surplus value left in his ox after he pays that owner, he shall return it to the owner of the previous ox that was gored; and if there is still surplus value left in his ox after he pays that owner, he shall return it to the one prior to the previous one. The principle is that the owner of the latest of the oxen gored in succession gains. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that the division of the compensation is as follows: With regard to an innocuous ox worth two hundred dinars that gored an ox worth two hundred dinars, thereby killing it, and the carcass is worthless, the injured party takes one hundred dinars, i.e., half the cost of the damage, from the proceeds of the sale of the belligerent ox, and the owner of the belligerent ox takes the remaining one hundred dinars. If the ox, after goring the first ox but before compensation had been paid, again gored another ox worth two hundred dinars, and the carcass is worthless, the owner of the last ox that was gored takes one hundred dinars, and with regard to payment for the previous goring, the owner of this ox that was gored takes fifty dinars, which is half the remaining value of the belligerent ox after one hundred dinars were paid to the last injured party, and the owner of that belligerent ox takes the remaining fifty dinars. If the ox, after goring the first two oxen but before compensation had been paid, again gored another ox worth two hundred dinars, and the carcass is worthless, the last injured party takes one hundred dinars, the previous one takes fifty dinars, and the first two, i.e., the first injured party and the owner of the belligerent ox, divide the remainder, each receiving one gold dinar, which is worth twenty-five silver dinars.

שׁוֹר שֶׁנָּגַח אַרְבָּעָה וַחֲמִשָּׁה שְׁוָרִים זֶה אַחַר זֶה, יְשַׁלֵּם לָאַחֲרוֹן שֶׁבָּהֶם. וְאִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ מוֹתָר, יַחֲזִיר לְשֶׁלְּפָנָיו. וְאִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ מוֹתָר, יַחֲזִיר לְשֶׁלִּפְנֵי פָנָיו. וְהָאַחֲרוֹן אַחֲרוֹן נִשְׂכָּר, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, שׁוֹר שָׁוֶה מָאתַיִם שֶׁנָּגַח שׁוֹר שָׁוֶה מָאתַיִם, וְאֵין הַנְּבֵלָה יָפָה כְלוּם, זֶה נוֹטֵל מָנֶה וְזֶה נוֹטֵל מָנֶה. חָזַר וְנָגַח שׁוֹר אַחֵר שָׁוֶה מָאתַיִם, הָאַחֲרוֹן נוֹטֵל מָנֶה, וְשֶׁלְּפָנָיו, זֶה נוֹטֵל חֲמִשִּׁים זוּז וְזֶה נוֹטֵל חֲמִשִּׁים זוּז. חָזַר וְנָגַח שׁוֹר אַחֵר שָׁוֶה מָאתַיִם, הָאַחֲרוֹן נוֹטֵל מָנֶה, וְשֶׁלְּפָנָיו, חֲמִשִּׁים זוּז, וּשְׁנַיִם הָרִאשׁוֹנִים, דִּינַר זָהָב:

א׳

שור שנגח ד' וה' - and in all of them it (i.e., the ox) was innocuous and that it pays from his own funds.

ישלם – he (i.e., the owner) pays one-half of the damages caused, and to the last one [who suffered damage is paid] first. In the Gemara (Tractate Bava Kamma 36b), it establishes that our Mishnah deals with a the one who suffered damage grabbed hold of the ox causing damage to collect from him and became for him a paid bailee. But when it left under his hand and caused damage, the first one (i.e., the owner of the ox that was damaged) is liable for his damages. Therefore, the last [owner of an ox which suffered damage] is compensated one-half of his damages from the full amount.

ואם יש בו מותר יחזיר לשלפניו – this is what he said: if there is surplus of his damages [caused] he should restore to the [owner of the ox who suffered damage] that was prior to him as, for example, that the half-damages of the first was a Maneh (100 zuz) and the half damages of the last was fifty and the ox was worth two-hundred. From the outset, when the ox gored the ox of the he first [owner] which was damaged, that half of his damages was a Maneh, the [owner of] the ox who was damaged received a Maneh, and the owners [received] a Maneh , when they captured the injured ox and it gored while under their control, the owners do not lose a Maneh that they had for it (i.e., the ox), for he was not guarding them, [properly] other than on the damaged ox which he had captured, and when it damaged a second [ox], and half of those damages was fifty, the [owner of the] first damaged ox lost from his Maneh – fifty , and he gives it to the [owner of the] second damaged [ox] and the surplus up until a Maneh he returns to him, and the owners take their own Maneh.

RABBI SHIMON SAYS: Rabbi Shimon is of the opinion that the original owners and the victim become partners in ownership of the ox that attacked, and they are both liable in subsequent damages. How so? AN OX WORTH 200 WHO GORED...

ושלפניו – that [ox] which was damaged first, he (i.e., the owner) takes fifty zuz and the owners [of the ox] who damaged take fifty zuz, for the [owner of the] one damaged first has the half [damages], therefore, he pays one-half the compensation of his damage.

חזר ונגח שור שוה מאתים – the [owner of the] last one takes a half Maneh from every one – for he is paid out of his own pocket and it is found that the one before him that was his one-half, he pays from his portion one-half a Maneh and takes the last one.

But the two first [owners] – the first owner [whose ox] was damaged and the owners, for each one of them had a quarter, each one of them pays one-quarter of his damages.

דינר זהב – which is twenty-five silver dinars.

שור שנגח ד׳ וה׳ ובכולם היה תם דמשתלם מגופו:

ישלם. חצי נזק לאחרון תחלה. בגמרא מוקי למתניתין כגון שתפסו ניזק לשור המזיק לגבות ממנו ונעשה עליו שומר שכר. וכשיצא מתחת ידו והזיק, הניזק הראשון חייב בנזקיו, לפיכך האחרון משתלם חצי נזקו משלם:

ואם יש בו מותר יחזיר לשלפניו. הכי קאמר, אם יש בו מותר בנזקיו, יחזיר לשלפניו. כגון שחצי נזקו של הראשון היה מנה, וחצי נזק האחרון היה חמשים, והשור שוה מאתים. מתחלה כשנגח שור זה שורו של הניזק הראשון שחצי נזקו מנה, היה לניזק בשור זה מנה, ולבעלים מנה. וכשתפסו הניזק ונגח תחת ידו, אין לבעלים להפסיד מנה שהיה להם בו, שהרי לא היתה שמירתו עליהן אלא על הניזק שתפסו. וכשהזיק לשני והיה חצי נזקו חמשים, איבד הניזק הראשון מן המנה שלו חמשים ונותן לזה הניזק השני, והמותר עד המנה חוזר לו. והבעלים נוטלים המנה שלהם:

רבי שמעון אומר וכו׳ רבי שמעון סבר שותפי נינהו הבעלים והניזק בשור המזיק, ושניהם מתחייבים בנזקיו. כיצד, שור שוה מאתים שנגח וכו׳:

ושלפניו. זהו ניזק ראשון. נוטל חמישים זוז, והבעלים חמשים זוז. דיש לניזק ראשון בו החצי, הלכך משלם חצי תשלומי נזקו:

חזר ונגח שור שוה מאתים. האחרון נוטל מנה החצי מכל מה שהוא, דמגופו משתלם. ונמצא אותו שלפניו שהיה החצי שלו, משלם מחלקו חצי מנה שנוטל האחרון:

ושנים הראשונים. ניזק ראשון והבעלים שהיה להם לכל אחד רביע, משלמין כל אחד רביעית של נזקו:

דינר זהב. שהם עשרים וחמשה דינרים של כסף: