This chapter seeks to apply literary analysis to a Talmudic sugya with a view to noting how the editors of the Babylonian Talmud shaped their material in order to provide a structured unit. The sugya is in tractate Bava Kama 11a–12b, paralleled, in its first section, by the sugya in the Yerushalmi, Kiddushin 1:4 (60b–c).

The sugya begins with a discussion regarding a ganav (‘sneak thief’) or a gazlan (‘robber’) who has stolen an animal which then dies while in his possession. Obviously he must compensate the owner, but the question discussed is what is the form this compensation takes. Does the thief have to refund the value the animal had while alive or can he return the carcass and pay only the difference between the value of the live animal and the carcass? If the latter, the court makes an assessment of the difference in value, hence this method of payment is called ‘they make an assessment’ (shamin). Now on the basis of an inference from the mishnah (Bava Kama 1:2) the rule is that, in the case where a man kills or injures his neighbour's animal, the more lenient method of payment, that is shamin, is said to be the rule. Consequently, the sugya is appended to this mishnah.