Deuteronomy 22:8

"When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence."

The responsibility of builders, land owners, and other property owners to protect people from any form of accidental injury is clearly indicated here. This is a variation upon the Sixth Commandment and is capable of very wide application. "The friendly hazard" is a liability known to every property owner under the laws of our current society.

Back of this legislation was the use of flat roofs in the buildings of that day. The flat rooftop could be utilized for privacy, coolness, and other advantages; and, in order to protect people from inadvertently falling off the roof, the legislation here required the builder to guard against all such possibilities.