The Grazing Beast That Strays Into a Neighbor's Field

"If a man causes a field or vineyard to be consumed" (Exodus 22:4) the one who causes the consuming is liable to pay. From here you say: thieves who opened a pen or opened a secured place so that an animal went out and caused damage the thieves are exempt and the householder is exempt, for it says "and he lets loose his beast" this one did not let it loose. If the thieves drove it out, the thieves are liable and the householder is exempt, for it says "if he causes consuming, the one who causes the consuming is liable to pay." If he locked it properly and tied it properly [and made a partition ten handbreadths high and entrusted it to an elder or an invalid who has understanding] and the animal went out and caused damage, he is exempt, for it says "and he lets loose his beast" this one did not let it loose. If he locked it improperly and tied it improperly [and made a partition not ten handbreadths high] and entrusted it to a deaf-mute, an imbecile, or a minor [who have no understanding], and the animal went out and caused damage, he is liable, for it says "if he causes consuming, the one who causes the consuming is liable to pay." "A field or a vineyard" I know only a field and vineyard specifically; from where to include anything else? Scripture teaches "or a vineyard." One might think I include even an animal that tore clothing or consumed vessels; Scripture teaches "vineyard" just as a vineyard yields produce, so anything that is produce. Rabbi Shimon says: a vineyard is included in "field"; why then say "field or vineyard"? To teach that if the animal ate unripe figs or unripe grapes, we view them as though they were fully ripened produce. "And he lets loose his beast" an animal that was walking its usual way in the public domain and fell into a garden and benefited: if not by its own doing, it pays for what it benefited; if by its own doing, it pays for what it damaged. We do not assess a single small plot, because that inflates the value, nor a vast field, because that lowers it; rather we assess a seah's measure of land within that field, how much it was worth and how much it is now worth. "And he lets loose his beast" I know only the tooth, eating what is fit for it; from where the foot, breaking things along its path? Scripture teaches "and he lets loose his beast." As Isaiah says (Isaiah 5:5), "I will remove its hedge and it shall be consumed, I will break down its wall and it shall be trampled." These cause damage in their normal manner, and pay full damages; so too anything that damages in its normal manner pays full damages. "And it consumes in another's field" not in the householder's own field, and not where the owner gave permission to stack. "The best of his field and the best of his vineyard he shall pay" this teaches that we assess for him only from the best land, and only from movable goods. This is the precedent for all who pay a penalty: they pay only from the best, and only from movable goods, and we do not assess potential property as we assess established property.