Assault and Battery
"Assault and battery" is the English law term for injury to the person (Hebrew: "khovel be-khavero"). In ancient law, redress for injuries to the body takes the form of compensation to the person wronged, not of punishment in the name of the state; and this principle is found throughout the Talmudic jurisprudence. Many nations of antiquity and the Germanic tribes as late as the earlier Middle Ages allowed even the guilt of the slayer to be atoned by the payment of "wergild"—that is, man-money—to the heirs of the slain; but here Jewish law calls a halt with its stern command, "Ye shall take no ransom for the life of a manslayer" (Num. xxxv. 31, R. V.).
Read more about this topic: Damages (Jewish Law)
Famous quotes containing the word assault:
“To assault the total culture totally is to be free to use all the fruits of mankind’s wisdom and experience without the rotten structure in which these glories are encased and encrusted.”
—Judith Malina (b. 1926)