Bava Kamma - Daf 26
- Paying כופר for regel
The Gemara asks: רגל שדרסה על גבי תינוק בחצר הניזק – If an animal through regel trampled a child in the yard of the ניזק, killing him, מהו שתשלם כופר – what is the halachah regarding whether [the owner] pays kofer? Do we say that just as keren, once it is a mu’ad, אורחיה הוא – it is its habit and he pays kofer, so regel would pay kofer as well, or perhaps kofer is only paid for keren, which is כוונתו להזיק – intended to harm? A Baraisa is brought in which Rebbe Tarfon says that keren in רשות הניזק pays full kofer even the first time. The basis for this is that he agrees with Rebbe Yose HaGlili, who holds that keren tam pays half-kofer in רשות הרבים. He also must hold that regel pays kofer (in רשות הניזק), and then derives from a kal vachomer that keren would pay full kofer in רשות הניזק, like he did regarding keren damages on Daf 25.
- אדם מועד לעולם, but not for ד' דברים
The next Mishnah states: אדם מועד לעולם – A man is always mu’ad, and pays full damages, בין שוגג בין מזיד – whether he damaged unintentionally or intentionally, בין ער בין ישן – whether awake or asleep. סימא את עין חבירו – If he blinded his fellow’s eye, ושיבר את הכלים – or broke utensils, he pays full damages. The Gemara notes that the Mishnah groups these last two cases together to teach that just as when breaking utensils, he only pays damages (because no other payments are applicable), so too when he blinds (or otherwise injures) someone unintentionally, he only pays damages and not the additionally four payments for injuring a person (צער, ריפוי, שבת, and בושת). The source that one pays for unintentional damage is "פצע תחת פצע" – a wound in place of a wound, לחייבו על השוגג כמזיד – to obligate him for unintentional damages like intentional damages, ועל האונס כרצון – and for unwilling damages like willing ones. Rabbah presents several examples of unintentional actions, regarding one’s liability for damages, a korban for carrying on Shabbos, exile for inadvertent killing, and a slave going free for being blinded.
- זרק כלי מראש הגג, and removing pillows
Rabbah said: זרק כלי מראש הגג – If one threw a utensil from the top of a roof, ובא אחר ושברו במקל פטור – and someone else came and broke it with a stick, [the second person] is exempt from paying, because מנא תבירא תבר – he merely broke an already broken utensil. He said further that if one threw a utensil from a roof, והיו תחתיו כרים או כסתות – and there were pillows and cushions beneath it on the ground, בא אחר וסלקן או קדם וסלקן פטור – and someone else came and removed them, or he himself came ahead and removed them, resulting in the utensil breaking on the ground, he is exempt from paying. He explains: בעידנא דשדייה פסוקי מפסקי גיריה – At the time he threw it, “his arrows were stopped,” meaning his act of throwing would not have broken the utensil, since the pillows were on the ground. One is not liable for removing the cushions, because this cause of the damage was indirect (even if it was the same person who threw the utensil). Rabbah then discusses liability where one threw a child off a roof, and another person met the child with a sword, or an ox met it with its horns, killing it.
