Bava Kamma 65: Principal, Double Payment, Fourfold or Fivefold Payment, One-Fifth, and Timing

The Gemara focuses in on the portion of our Mishna that discusses the timing of different payments.  When is a twofold payment made, and when is a four- or fivefold payment made?  There are a number of different possibilities, including when the crime is discovered, when the thief is found, and when the court makes its ruling.  The time that passes between the crime and the payment of damages might be significant.  For example, a cow might be fat to begin with but lean by the time that the damages are measured.  The owner of the cow should not have to suffer for that change in value.

A number of different examples are offered - wine drunk from a barrel; a broken barrel; values of one dinar versus four dinars, etc.  But what about the one-fifth payment?  We are given the example of a person who admits his guilt before witnesses speak of his guilt.  He must pay the principal plus one-fifth of the worth of the item stolen.  But if he admitted guilt only after the witnesses claimed his culpability, he must give the principal, a double-payment and one-fifth.  Is the 'one-fifth' included in the double payment or not?

The rabbis consider whether or not the payment of principal or the double payment includes an additional payment of one-fifth.  They note that perhaps timing of the payment is important here; the principal is paid at one point in time while the four- or fivefold payments are paid later.  The rabbis consider the wording of the original verse and they question whether the placement of the word 'et' indicates how we are meant to interpret.

Our daf ends with a discussion of an animal that is stolen as one name, a calf, for example, but it has become a bull by the time the theft is brought to court.  Are damages always paid according to an animal's worth when it is stolen?  Or not?  The rabbis consider a debate between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, where Beit Hillel argue that a prostitute who is paid with olives and makes oil, or one who is paid with wheat and makes flour, can use those items as offerings in the Temple.  Of course, Beit Shammai argue that these items are prohibited.