Q&A: A Paid Watchman Through Indirect Benefit
A Paid Watchman Through Indirect Benefit
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Does an unpaid watchman who benefits from the item being guarded without the owner’s knowledge (for example, he received money for safekeeping and in the meantime invested it) become a paid watchman?
From Bava Metzia 93b it seems that this is about an implicit agreement arising from the payment (“for this I gave you wages, so that you would guard it for me with extra care”), and according to this, a benefit that comes from a third party and is not known to the owner would not create such an agreement. In searching just now I saw that some understood this as a normative rule — the more benefit there is, the greater the obligation.
Practically speaking, what would that watchman be liable for?
Answer
A watchman is forbidden to derive benefit from the item entrusted to him. If he does derive benefit, he is considered to have laid hands on the deposit, and is like a robber. As is well known, a robber is liable even for unavoidable accidents, so there is no need to get into the laws of watchmen.
Discussion on Answer
No. A borrower of money.
Thank you very much.
I understand. And if the owner allows the watchman to invest the money, does the watchman become a borrower?