The Carcass Belongs to the Injured Owner

"And the dead shall be his" (Exodus 21:36). Our Rabbis taught: this concerns the payments for damage; it teaches that the owners tend to the carcass. From where are these words derived? Rabbi Ammi said, Scripture said, "one who strikes a beast shall make it whole" (Leviticus 24:21): do not read "yeshalmenah" [he shall pay for it] but "yashlimenah" [he shall make it whole, i.e. restore the value of the carcass against the payment]. Rav Kahana said, from here: "if it is surely torn, let him bring it as evidence; for what is torn he shall not pay" (Exodus 22:12) — up to the point of being torn he pays, but for the torn thing itself he does not pay. Hezekiah said, from here: "and the dead shall be his" — meaning the injured party's. Or is it perhaps the damager's? You said: it was not so, for if it should enter your mind that the carcass belongs to the damager, let the Merciful One write "an ox in place of the ox" and be silent; why do I need "and the dead shall be his"? Learn from it: it belongs to the injured party. And all three verses are necessary, for if Scripture had written only "one who strikes a beast shall make it whole," I might say this is because such a case is uncommon, but a torn animal, which is common, say no. And if it had taught us only the torn case, that comes about on its own, but striking a beast, which is by one's own hands, say no. And if it had taught us these two, this one because it is uncommon and that one because it comes about on its own, but "the dead shall be his," which is common and by one's own hands, say no. And if it had taught us only "the dead shall be his," because there it is property that causes the damage, but those where one's own body causes the damage, say no; therefore all are necessary. Rav Kahana said to Rabbah: The reason is that the Merciful One wrote "and the dead shall be his"; otherwise I would have said it is the damager's. But now that he has of his own, he gives to him, as the Master said: "he shall restore" (Exodus 21:34) is to include something worth money. That it is his own goes without saying! It is not necessary except for the depreciation of the carcass.