The classical examples here include the historical institution of slavery. They are being studied to understand legal classifications, not to authorize treating people as property today.
In the stated example, an enslaved person is wrongfully taken. While with the taker, that person destroys someone's property, creating a debt, or kills someone, giving rise to Diyah or Qisas1 liability in the case described.
Those liabilities reduce the value assigned within that historical system. Returning the same individual is therefore illustrated as deficient Ada: identity remains, but the legal quality has changed. This assigned value is not a measure of a person's human worth.
1. Diyah / Qisas: monetary compensation / legally regulated retribution in these classical legal examples; not personal enforcement.
- A Historical Example of a Changed Legal Quality