If one digs a pit in the public domain and an ox or a donkey falls into it, he is liable to pay the damages.
Whatever
shape one digs, he is liable to pay for the damage that his excavation
does. If so, why is specifically a pit mentioned in the Torah? Just as
a standard pit has sufficient depth to cause death, being ten
hand-breadths deep, so too, for any obstacle that has sufficient depth
to cause depth, one is liable.
One is not liable for the death of a donkey in a pit less than 10 hand-breadths, but is liable for the injury.
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