Tuesday 19 July 2016

Bava Kamma 49: Compensation for Damages When A Pregnant Woman is Gored and Miscarries

The Gemara discusses what is done when someone unintentionally causes the miscarriage of a pregnant woman.  What if this is a maidservant?  What if the situation were an ox and a pregnant goat? And does a woman increase in value or decrease in value after she gives birth?  Or is her value the same?  What if the child is her first born?  One of our notes teaches us the halacha regarding payment of damages:

  • miscarriage: husband is paid for the value of the fetus, woman is paid for the assessment of difference in damages to her body/pain between this situation and a normal delivery
  • medical costs, loss of livelihood are paid to the husband
  • humiliation: one third to woman, two thirds to husband if the miscarriage happens in public.
  • humiliation: one third to husband, two thirds to woman if the miscarriage happens in private
The rabbis discuss how to distribute compensation for damages if the woman is a maidservant, the husband is a convert, the husband has died, etc. etc.  Compensation is sometimes paid directly to the woman, particularly when there are no heirs in line for the payment.  The Gemara then shifts its focus to questions of acquisition that may be dependent on location, like within a person's courtyard.  Converts and other "others" are discussed here as well.

A new Mishna speaks about the category of Pit.  It states that a person who digs a pit in the private domain and opens its entrance in the public domain, and vice versa, and one who digs a pit in the private domain that opens in another person's private domain is liable for all damages.  The Gemara begins its analysis of this Mishna with questions about Torah sources.  Is this actually what was said in Exodus?

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