Baba Kama 3:9-10

Baba Kama 3:9

If an ox worth 100 zuz gores an ox worth 200 zuz and the carcass of the gored ox isn’t worth anything, the injured party takes the ox. If an ox worth 200 zuz gores another ox worth 200 zuz and the carcass isn’t worth anything, Rabbi Meir applies Exodus 21:35, “they shall sell the live ox and divide the money.” Rabbi Yehuda said – and the law is – that this fulfills the mandate of “they shall sell the live ox and divide the money” but not “they shall also divide the dead ox” (ibid.). This refers to when an ox worth 200 zuz gores another ox worth 200 zuz and the carcass is worth 50 zuz. In such a case, each party takes half the value of the live ox and half the value of the dead ox.

Baba Kama 3:10

A person can be liable for his ox’s actions and exempt for his own, or exempt for his ox’s actions and liable for his own. If the ox caused someone shame, he is exempt from paying, but if he himself causes someone shame, he is liable. If his ox blinds a servant or knocks out a tooth, he is exempt, but if he himself does these things, he is liable. If his ox injures his mother or father, he is liable for damages, but if does so himself, he is exempt (because it’s a capital crime, in which damages are not paid). If his ox set fire to a pile of grain on Shabbos, he is liable, but if he does so himself, he is exempt because it is a capital offense.