Talmud Yerushalmi and Talmud Bavli
There are two versions of Bava Kamma: One is within Talmud Yerushalmi, while the other is in Talmud Bavli. The two Gemaras, as usual, discuss the laws of the Mishnah; the Jerusalem Talmud rather briefly, the Babylonian Talmud more fully.
The following are a few of the principles enunciated in the Gemara: According to Symmachus (Sumkus, not to be confused with Symmachus the Ebionite): Property concerning which there is a doubt whether it belongs to A or to B, is divided between A and B without either being compelled to confirm his claim by oath. The sages (chachamim) hold that he who claims what is in the possession of another, must prove his claim (hamotzi machavaro aluv haria)(B. Ḳ. 46a). A person attacked on his own grounds may take the law into his own hands, when the delay caused by going to a proper court of law would involve great loss. Whenever the whole value of the damaged object is paid, the payment is considered as compensation ("mamona"); when only half the value or a certain fixed amount is paid, the payment is considered a fine ("kenasa") (B. Ḳ. 15b). The judges in Babylonia had no right to impose a fine for any offense; the case had to be tried by qualified judges in Palestine.
The following incident will illustrate the last two rules: A man was charged before Rab Ḥisdai (in Babylonia) with having struck a fellow man with his spade. Rab Ḥisdai asked Rab Naḥman how much the offender had to pay. The latter replied that no fine could be imposed in the Babylonian courts, but that he desired to know the facts of the case. He ascertained that A and B had together a well, each of them with the right of drawing water on certain fixed days alone. Contrary to the agreement A drew water on a day that was not his. B noticed it and drove him away with his spade. Rab Naḥman's verdict was that B might with impunity have hit A a hundred times with the spade, as any delay would have involved a great loss to B (B. Ḳ. 27b). It is noteworthy that two codes of law are mentioned: the legal one ("dine adam," literally, judgments of man) and the moral one ("dine shamayim," literally, judgments of heaven). In some cases the former absolves man of an obligation, and the latter does not (Mish. vi. 4; Gem. 29a, 56a, and passim).
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