
If
one ox gores many oxen while remaining innocent (Tam), its owner pays
the owner of the last of the gored oxen his half-damage payment from
the body of the ox that gored. If the ox is worth more than this
payment, the excess goes to the one before, and so on - says Rabbi
Meir. Why this order? In this case, each successive damaged party
seized the ox as payment and became its guardian.
Rabbi
Shimon says that the owners immediately become partners in the goring
ox, thus each successive victim bears part of the responsibility for
the further gorings, paying for example 100 zuz, 50, and 25
respectively.