Commentary for Bava Kamma 14:20

היו לו עידית ובינונית וזיבורית נזקין בעידית ובעל חוב בבינונית וכתובת אשה בזיבורית עידית ובינונית נזקין בעידית ב"ח וכתובת אשה בבינונית בינונית וזיבורית נזקין ובעל חוב בבינונית וכתובת אשה בזיבורית

is made, is it based on his own [the defendant's] property or upon that of the general public? This problem has no application to R. Ishmael's view that the calculation is based upon the quality of the plaintiff's property;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. supra p. 22. ');">¹⁷</span> it can apply only to R. Akiba's view<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. supra p. 22. ');">¹⁷</span> which takes the defendant's property into account.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., his estate is divided into three categories; best, medium and worst, out of which the payments will respectively be made. ');">¹⁸</span> What would, according to him, be the ruling? Does the Divine Law in saying, 'the best of his field' intend only to exclude the quality of the plaintiff's property from being taken into account, or does it intend to exclude even the quality of the property of the general public? — He [R. Abba] said to him:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., to R. Samuel, the questioner. ');">¹⁹</span> The Divine Law states, 'the best of his field' how then can you maintain that the calculation is based on the property of the general public? He<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., R. Samuel. ');">²⁰</span> raised an objection: [It is taught,] If the defendant's estate consists only of the best, creditors of all descriptions are paid out of the best; if it is of medium quality, they are all paid out of medium quality; if it is of the worst quality, they are all paid out of the worst quality. [It is only] when the defendant's possessions consist of both the best, the medium, and the worst [that] creditors for damages are paid out of the best, creditors for loans out of the medium and creditors for marriage contracts out of the worst. When [however] the estate consists only of the best and of the medium qualities, creditors for damages are paid out of the best while creditors for loans and for marriage contracts will be paid out of the medium quality. [Again] if the estate consists only of the medium and the worst qualities, creditors for either damages or loans are paid out of the medium quality whereas those for marriage contracts will be paid out of the worst quality.

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