Translation:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Bava Kamma/Chapter 1/2

Hebrew Text

כל שחבתי בשמירתו, הכשרתי את נזקו
הכשרתי במקצת נזקו, חבתי בתשלומי נזקו כהכשר כל נזקו
נכסים שאין בהן מעילה, נכסים שהן של בני ברית, נכסים המיוחדים, ובכל מקום חוץ מרשות המיוחדת למזיק, ורשות הניזק והמזיק--כשהזיק, חב המזיק לשלם תשלומי נזק במיטב הארץ

Translated Text

Once I have accepted the the duty of care for a thing, I have prepared the way for its causation of damage.

Once I have partially prepared the way for its causation of damage, I have accepted monetary liability for damages as if I had prepared the way for the entity of its causation of damage.

In cases of things that cause damage to properties not covered by sacrilege laws, properties which belong to members of the Covenant, owned properties, and properties located outside the private domain of the defendant or the shared private domain of the plaintiff and the defendant, the defendant must pay the monetary judgement for damages from the best land.

Commentary

"The duty of care for a thing"- The Torah requires the owner of potentially injurious properties (such as livestock) to take care to prevent harm from coming to the property of others. See Exodus 21:33-36.

"I have prepared the way for its causation of damage"- If a defendant breached his duty of care, and his property damaged another's, he is accounted as having caused the damage. Though the extent of the duty of care differs from generative category to generative category (see Mishnah Bava Qamma 1:1), the breach of duty establishes the causal relationship between the defendant's actions and the resulting damage in all cases.

"Partially prepared...causation of damage"- Even if the defendant's causation of damage was partial, if his particular acts or omissions were the cause of the damage sustained, he is held to be fully liable. For instance, if he expanded an existing hole in a public thoroughfare, and it can be shown that the expansion resulted in the death (rather than the mere injury) of the plaintiff's livestock, he is held fully liable for the animal's death.

"Sacrilege laws"- See Leviticus 5:15-17 and 22:14-16. Damage to Temple property results in a verdict requiring a criminal fine as penalty and a guilt offering as compnsation, but the defendant is immune from civil action.

"Members of the Covenant"- Lawsuits between Jews and non-Jews were generally not handled by Rabbinic courts. In the event that this unusual circumstance did occur, the Mishnah was at pains to place those non-Jews at the same disadvantage that it perceived Jews to be at in the Roman courts. Therefore, Jews were immune to civil actions brought against them by non-Jews in Rabbinic courts. This had the effect of moving all such actions to non-Jewish courts and thereby insulating Rabbinic courts from the displeasure of the ruling authorities.

"Owned properties"- The plaintiff must be able to establish his ownership of the damaged property in order to show harm. Damage to ownerless properties causes no harm and results in no monetary judgement.

"shared private domain"- If the damage occurred on the defendant's real property (even if owned in partnership with the defendant), breach of duty cannot be established. In all such cases, he confined the injurious thing within the boundaries of his land. This is considered reasonable fulfillment of his duty of care.