Baba Kama 3:11-4:1

Baba Kama 3:11

Let’s say that one ox was chasing another ox and got injured. The owner of the injured ox claims that it was the other person’s fault, while the other person says that the ox was injured by a rock. In such a case, the burden of proof is on the one who wants to collect damages from the other. If two oxen were chasing another ox (and one of them injures it), and each owner says that the other’s ox caused the injury, both are exempt. If both pursuing oxen belong to the same person, he is liable for both of them. Let’s say that one of these oxen was large and the other was small. The owner of the injured ox says the large one caused the injury and the owner of the pursuing oxen says the small one caused it. Or if one ox had a presumption of causing damage (muad) and the other didn’t (tam) and the owner of the injured ox says the muad caused the injury and the owner of the pursuing oxen says the tam caused it. In such cases, the burden of proof is on the one looking to collect. If there were two injured oxen – a large one and a small one – and two injuring oxen – also a large one and a small one – and the owner of the injured oxen says that the big ox injured the big ox and the small ox injured the small ox, while the owner of the injuring oxen says the opposite, or if the injuring oxen were a tam and a muad and the owner of the injured oxen says that the muad injured the big ox and the tam injured the small ox, while the owner of the injuring oxen says the opposite, in all of these cases the burden of proof is on the one looking to collect.

Baba Kama 4:1

If an ox gored four or five other oxen in succession, the owner pays the last of these first. If there’s money left, he pays the next to last, then the second to last, etc. The last one gored has an advantage in this matter; this is the opinion of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that if an ox worth 200 zuz gores another ox worth 200 zuz and the carcass of the gored ox isn’t worth anything, each party takes 100 zuz. If the ox gores another ox worth 200, the owner of the last one gored receives 100 zuz, while the owner of the first gored and the owner of the offending ox take 50 each. If it gores another ox worth 200 zuz, the last receives 100 zuz, the one before him gets 50 zuz, and the first and the owner each get a gold dinar (i.e., 25 zuz each).