Quotation for Bava Kamma 173:3
אמר רב יוסף מריש הוה אמינא מאן דאמר הלכה כר' יהודה דאמר סומא פטור מן המצות קא עבדינא יומא טבא לרבנן מ"ט דלא מפקדינא וקא עבדינא מצות
he who is subject to the 'ordinances' is subject to 'commandments' and 'statutes', but he who is not subject to 'ordinances' is not subject to 'commandments' and 'statutes'. R. Joseph stated:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Kid. 31a. ');"><sup>4</sup></span> Formerly I used to Say: If someone would tell me that the <i>halachah</i> is in accordance with R. Judah who declared that a blind person is exempt from the commandments, I would make a festive occasion for our Rabbis, because though I am not enjoined<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As R. Joseph became blind through an illness; cf. Shab. 109a. ');"><sup>5</sup></span>
Tosafot on Bava Kamma
The source for this ruling in the Mishna is not as Rashi explained because we are taught in a Mishna in perek Hachovail (later 87a) that as far as a slave and a married woman are concerned, an encounter with them is terrible, for one must pay if he injures them and they do not have to pay if they injure anybody. For if it was so that our Gemara is referring to that Mishna, the Gemara should have mentioned ‘a slave and a married woman’, which would be a direct quotation of that Mishna. Since the Gemara does not mention ‘a slave and a married woman’, it seems that the Gemara is not referring to that Mishna.
Rather, Rabbeinu Tam explains that the Gemara mentioned a slave and a slave woman, because it is referring to a Mishna at the end of Masechet Yadayim (Chapter 4, Mishna 7) that specifically discusses this case of a slave and a slave woman who damage others. And the reason that they are exempt which is because their master may anger them and they will damage another person’s property in order to cause their master to pay that is soon mentioned in our Gemara is explicitly mentioned there in Masechet Yadayim, which also proves that our Gemara is referring to that Mishna.