Bava Kamma 50 - Donkey Falls Into a Pit (Torts)

If one digs a pit in the public domain and an ox or a donkey falls into it, he is liable to pay the damages.

Whatever shape one digs, he is liable to pay for the damage his excavation causes. If so, why is specifically a pit mentioned in the Torah? Just as a standard pit has sufficient depth to cause death, being ten hand-breadths deep, one is liable for any obstacle that has sufficient depth to cause death.

One is not liable for the death of a donkey in a pit less than 10 hand-breadths but is liable for the injury.

Art: Peasant Children with Donkeys by Edgar Bundy


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