Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Note on Biblical translations
- Note on the Babylonian Talmud
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 The Talmudic argument
- 2 The literary form of the Babylonian Talmud
- 3 Berērah: retrospective specification
- 4 Yeúsh she-lo mi-da‘at: unconscious abandonment of property
- 5 Rubba: probability
- 6 Davar she-lo ba le-'olam: conveyance of a thing not yet in existence
- 7 Kol she-eyno be-zeh aḥar zeh afilu be-vat aḥat eyno: whatever cannot be established in a consecutive sequence cannot be established even in a simultaneous sequence
- 8 Yesh ḥoresh telem eḥad: a single act of ploughing can result in a number of penalties
- 9 Simanin de-oraita o de-rabbanan: whether reliance on distinguishing marks for the purpose of identification is Biblical or Rabbinic
- 10 Devarim she-be-lev eynam devarim: mental reservations in contracts are disregarded
- 11 Ḥazakah: presumptive state
- 12 Gadol kevod ha-beriot: the law and regard for human dignity
- 13 Hazmanah milta: whether the designation of an object for a particular use is effective
- 14 Mitzvat ‘aseh she-ha-zeman geramah: positive precepts dependent on time from which women are exempt
- 15 Heyzek she-eyno nikar: indiscernible damage to property
- 16 Kinyan ḥatzer: acquisition by means of a domain
- 17 Palginan be-dibbura: admission of part of a testimony even though another part of the same testimony is rejected
- 18 Tadir u-mekuddash: which takes precedence: the more constant or the more sacred?
- 19 Palga nizka: the nature of the payment of half-damages to which the owner of a goring ox is liable
- 20 Patur mi-diney adam ve-ḥayyav be-diney shamayim: cases where there is liability in the eyes of God even though the human courts cannot enforce payment
- 21 Maḥal ‘al kevodo kevodo maḥul: renunciation of honour by one to whom it is due
- 22 Conclusions
- Glossary
- Bibliography
20 - Patur mi-diney adam ve-ḥayyav be-diney shamayim: cases where there is liability in the eyes of God even though the human courts cannot enforce payment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on transliteration
- Note on Biblical translations
- Note on the Babylonian Talmud
- List of Abbreviations
- 1 The Talmudic argument
- 2 The literary form of the Babylonian Talmud
- 3 Berērah: retrospective specification
- 4 Yeúsh she-lo mi-da‘at: unconscious abandonment of property
- 5 Rubba: probability
- 6 Davar she-lo ba le-'olam: conveyance of a thing not yet in existence
- 7 Kol she-eyno be-zeh aḥar zeh afilu be-vat aḥat eyno: whatever cannot be established in a consecutive sequence cannot be established even in a simultaneous sequence
- 8 Yesh ḥoresh telem eḥad: a single act of ploughing can result in a number of penalties
- 9 Simanin de-oraita o de-rabbanan: whether reliance on distinguishing marks for the purpose of identification is Biblical or Rabbinic
- 10 Devarim she-be-lev eynam devarim: mental reservations in contracts are disregarded
- 11 Ḥazakah: presumptive state
- 12 Gadol kevod ha-beriot: the law and regard for human dignity
- 13 Hazmanah milta: whether the designation of an object for a particular use is effective
- 14 Mitzvat ‘aseh she-ha-zeman geramah: positive precepts dependent on time from which women are exempt
- 15 Heyzek she-eyno nikar: indiscernible damage to property
- 16 Kinyan ḥatzer: acquisition by means of a domain
- 17 Palginan be-dibbura: admission of part of a testimony even though another part of the same testimony is rejected
- 18 Tadir u-mekuddash: which takes precedence: the more constant or the more sacred?
- 19 Palga nizka: the nature of the payment of half-damages to which the owner of a goring ox is liable
- 20 Patur mi-diney adam ve-ḥayyav be-diney shamayim: cases where there is liability in the eyes of God even though the human courts cannot enforce payment
- 21 Maḥal ‘al kevodo kevodo maḥul: renunciation of honour by one to whom it is due
- 22 Conclusions
- Glossary
- Bibliography
Summary
The sugya is Bava Kama 55b–56a. There are instances of loss and damage to another where, for various technical reasons, the law cannot enforce payment but where, nevertheless, there is a moral obligation to pay. This is called: patur mi-diney adam ve-ḥayyav be-diney shamayim, literally, ‘exempt from the laws of man but liable by the laws of Heaven’. Actually the term denotes something more than a moral obligation to pay. It is rather that there is a legal obligation to pay, only it is one that cannot be enforced by the Courts.
The sugya begins with a Baraita which reads as follows: ‘R. Joshua said: There are four things which, if a man does them, he is exempt from the laws of man but is liable by the laws of Heaven and these are they: He who breaks down a fence before his neighbour's animal (and the animal escapes and is lost); he who bends his neighbour's corn into the path of a fire; he who hires false witnesses to testify; and he who can testify on behalf of his neighbour but fails so to do.’ In each of these cases the Courts cannot enforce payment, since the loss is caused indirectly and the law only demands compensation where there is a direct act of injury or damage to property. Thus where a man breaks down a fence and the animal escapes and is lost his act is indirect, but since otherwise the neighbour's animal could not have escaped he is liable by the laws of Heaven.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Talmudic ArgumentA Study in Talmudic Reasoning and Methodology, pp. 191 - 197Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1984