Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 21:33-36

"And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner thereof, and the dead [beast] shall be his. And if one man`s ox hurt another`s, so that it dieth, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it: and the dead also they shall divide. Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead [beast] shall be his own." — Exodus 21:33-36 (ASV)

LAWS CONCERNING THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY.

The legislation transitions from rights of persons to rights of property easily and without effort, moving from the injuries that cattle cause to those they suffer. They are injured:

1. by the culpable negligence of individuals leaving their pits uncovered;
2. and by injuries that one person's cattle inflict upon another's.

Both kinds of loss must be compensated.