“When one man’s ox butts another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.” Exodus 21.35, 36

The statute cited above shows how the practice of restorative justice was nuanced in order to encourage the practice of both obligatory and preventive justice.

If the ox simply, without warning or provocation, killed a neighbor’s ox, the owner of the goring ox had to sell it and share the proceeds with the owner of the dead ox. Also, the two would share the dead ox, whether the proceeds of its sale or its meat. Since we owe our neighbors due respect for their property, we should take whatever preventive measures as will keep us from failing in exercising proper love and respect.

However, if the goring ox was known to do this, and the owner did not keep it in – did not honor the requirements of obligatory and preventive justice – then a greater injustice would have been committed requiring a greater act of restoration. In this case the owner of the goring ox comes away with only the dead ox, while the owner of the gored ox receives a new beast.

T. M. Moore

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