Bava Kamma 90: Monetary Damages for Humiliation

When a woman owns a slave but her husband uses the slave's services, who is liable if the woman hits and injures that slave?  What if the husband owns that slave?  What if something is consecrated to the Temple but then damaged before it is delivered?  What if a slave is sold to another owner but the slave is injured by the first owner?  This abuse would happen while the slave is continuing to be owned by his first owner for thirty days after his sale, as was a condition of the sale.

The rabbis speak about possession and property.  A slave might be owned jointly by two parties.  How might that change the considerations around liability?  A slave is considered to be "one's money".  I think that this is misleading.  A slave will never be treated as money, for it is a living and breathing being.  Any argument that centres on the slave as money should be read extremely carefully.

A new Mishna teaches us about the actual payments that are owed to one who injures another:

• one who strikes another pays him a sela (worth 4 dinars)
• one who slaps another pays him 200 dinars
• one who hits another with the back of his hand, more humiliating, pays him 400 dinars
• one who uncovers a woman's head in the marketplace pays her 400 dinars

The Mishna says that we see all Jews, regardless of their circumstances, as free men who can be humiliated.  The pain of any person should be minimized.  A person who injures himself or who cuts down his own saplings is not liable (even though this breaks commandments).  However, one who injures another or cuts down another's saplings is liable.

The Gemara wonders this payment is made in Tyrian dollars, which are worth one eighth of state coinage.  The lesser value is accepted.

Can a witness become a judge?  The rabbis agree that a witness should not act as a judge in such cases.  They then ask questions about the nature of the assault.  Was a fist used, or another item, to strike the body?  Where on the body was the person struck?  Has the item used to strike another person been found?  Can a person be tried for assault and also for monetary damages?  

It is notable that the rabbis teach us about leniency both in cases of capital punishment and other cases.  They tell us that judges should rule leniently should there be any doubt about guilt.  This is a lovely passage that we should continue to remember today.