21:33,34
The law is given in terms of digging pits, oxen and donkeys, but we can draw the obvious conclusion that we should always be careful about the consequences of any actions we take. So if someone else suffers damage because of our carelessness, then we should pay compensation. The offender was also to take the dead animal. Presumably he could do something with the dead animal, maybe eat the meat. So there is proper compensation, but not excessively so. In the US, in particular, some of the compensation awards made by courts are frankly ridiculous.
21:35,36
We then get another case about oxen. At this stage in their history oxen and donkeys were the commonly owned animals. Now we have the matter of one ox butting another man’s ox, and it dying. If this is a “first offence” on the part of the ox, then the live ox is to be sold, and the proceeds shared between them, along with the dead ox. However, if the live ox has “form”, then the owner of the guilty ox has to pay compensation to the owner of the dead ox.
These laws are set out in the form of “case law”, specific examples being given. From these examples general principles can be drawn which have wider application. The most general principles are responsibility, fairness and reasonableness. It is a pity that our own legal system often seems to lack one or more of these general principles.
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