Q&A: The Law of a Pit
The Law of a Pit
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
A person takes his belongings out of the house so that the municipality will collect them on the designated day. He is of course declaring them ownerless. Someone trips and is injured. Does this have the legal status of a pit, making him liable to pay for the damages caused as a result?
Answer
If the municipality allows this, there is no obligation to pay. A person needs to be careful on the roads, just as during the time when garbage is put out and on rainy days, as in Bava Kamma 6.
Discussion on Answer
Precisely from the Talmud the Rabbi cited, page 6a, it seems that even though he throws out the garbage with the religious court’s permission, if they caused damage he is liable for the damage!
Because that was established from the outset in Joshua’s stipulation. Every exemption of tooth and foot in the public domain, according to the Rif and Maimonides, is based on the fact that there is permission to walk with them there, and in any case the potential injured party must be careful.
And in general, in the case of a pit there is an exemption for injury to a person (“an ox, and not a person”).