The Thrown Stone and the Killer Who Must Confess

One who throws a stone into the public domain and kills, this one is exiled. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: If after the stone left his hand the other person put out his head and received it, he is exempt. If he threw the stone into his own courtyard and killed: if the injured party had permission to enter there, he is exiled; and if not, he is not exiled, as it is said, "and he who goes with his fellow into the forest" (Deuteronomy 19:5) — just as a forest, where both the injured and the injuring party have permission to enter [is included], so is excluded the courtyard of a householder, where the injured party has no permission to enter. Abba Shaul says: Just as wood-chopping is an optional act, so [the law applies to] any optional act — excluding the father who strikes his son, the teacher who disciplines his pupil, and the agent of the court. Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Yehudah says: At the outset, both the unwitting killer and the deliberate killer hasten to the cities of refuge, and the court sends and brings him back from there: whoever is liable to death they put to death, and whoever is not liable to death they release; whoever is liable to exile they return to his place, as it is said, "and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge" (Numbers 35:25). And they assign him two scholars, lest [the blood-avenger] kill him on the way, and they speak to him. Rabbi Meir says: He himself pleads on his own behalf, as it is said, "and this is the matter [word] of the manslayer" (Deuteronomy 19:4). A manslayer who was exiled to a city of refuge, and the people of the city wished to honor him, must say, "I am a manslayer." And if they say, "even so," he may accept from them, as it is said, "and this is the word of the manslayer."