A man, catting
off his
animal on the
highway, is
refponfible
for any <Je*
predations it
may commit.
For the eye
o f a goat an
adequate
compenfation
is due; and
for the eye o f
a labouring
animal a
fourth o f the
value.
Cafes o f damage
occa-
lioned by an
animal, having
a rider
on its back.
F I N E S . B o o k L ,
letting flip the dog, being an endangering of the fafety of the high,
way, is therefore a tranfgreffion, and confequently induces refponli-
bility.
I f a perfon caft off or fet loofe an animal on the highway, and the
animal move ftraight on, and then, turning to the right or left, tread
down corn, or lo forth, the perfon who caft it loofe is refponfible;
but not if there be more roads than one. If, on the contrary, an animal
break loofe, and then, moving on of its own accord, kill a man,
or tread down property, either by night or day, the owner is not refponfible
; becaufe the prophet has fo ordained; and alfo, becaufe the
aft of the animal cannot, in this, cafe, be attributed to the owner,
fince he neither caft it off nor drove it.
I f a perfon put out one of the eyes:o f a goat, he muft compen-
fate [not for any determinate part of the whole value, but merely}for
the defect thereby occafioned; becaufe, as the only ufe of a goat is its
milk or its flefli, not its labour, nothing more can be required than j
merely the diminution occafioned in its value. For the eye, on the
contrary, of an ox, a camel, a dromedary, an afs, or a horfe, of |
whatever defcription, a compenfation muft be made of one fourth of J
the value; becaufe the prophet has faid, “ For the eye o f every animal
“ except a goat ye muji pay a fourth o f the value o f the a n im a l and
alfo becaufe, as the work of the animal cannot be performed but by
means of four eyes, (two of the animal, and two of his driver,) the
animal may therefore be faid to have fou r eyes,— whence a fourth of
his value is due for the lofs of one eye.
If a perfon be riding upon his beaft on the highway, and another
perfon ftrike or goad the beaft, without the confent of the rider, fo
as to caufe it to kill a man by kicking, or treading him down, or
running over him, the refponfibility refts upon the perfon who fo
ftruck or goaded it, not upon the rider; becaufe the former was the
5 inftigator
C h a p . HI. F I N E S . 383
inftigator of the animal’ s aft, which muft therefore be referred to him;
and alfo, becaufe this perfon is the producer of the caufe of the accident,
(for an animal naturally kicks upon being ftruck or goaded,)
and, as fuch, is guilty of a tranfgreffion, having goaded the beaft
without the rider’s confent; and as the rider has not in any refpeft
tranfgreffed, he [the goader] is therefore folely refponfible.— (If,
however, the rider, at the time of the other perfon finking or goading
the beaft, had flopped it in the highway, the refponfibility refts
upon him and the goader in equal lhareS, as in this cafe he alfo has
tranfgreffed, in having flopped the animal upon the road.)— If, on
the contrary, the beaft ftrike out at the perfon who goaded or ftruck
him, as above, and he die of the kick, his blood is of no account, as
he may be laid to have {lain himfelf. If, on the other hand, the beaft
j throw his rider, and kill him, the fine for him is due from the AkUas
of the goader or ftriker, he having tranfgreffed in producing the caufe
of the accident.
If a perfon be riding or flopping upon his beaft on his own land,
I and another goad or ftrike the beaft without the rider’s confent, and
the beaft fly out and tread down a man, the refponfibility refts upon
the perfon who fo goaded or ftruck it, and not upon the rider, for the
I reafons before explained.— If, on the other hand, a perfon be riding
upon his beaft on the highway, or flopping upon it on his own land,
I and another goad or ftrike it by his defire, and it fly out and tread
down a man, neither the rider nor the other are in any degree refponfible
:—the latter is not fo ; becaufe his add of ftriking or goading the
animal is in fuch a cafe tantamount to that of the rider himfelf;— nor
is the former [the rider] fo, as he has here authorized an act to which
j he is perfectly competent, the goading of an animal being equivalent
to driving it. But if the rider be moving along the road upon his beaft,
and another then ftrike or goad it by his defire, and it tread down a
man, both parties are refponfible in an equal degree, provided the
man