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Rambam Nezikin Chovel uMazzik 2:11 states anent damages

If he caused him to lose a limb or cut off his hand, he must pay him full compensation for his hand; this being "damages." In this instance, we judge him as if he were a guard at a patch of squash. We evaluate how much such a guard would earn each day and calculate the number of days he will be incapacitated. This is the amount the person who caused the injury must pay.

Similarly, if a person cut off a colleague's legs, we calculate a wage as if he were a door guard. If he blinded him, we calculate a wage as if he worked in a mill. Similar principles apply in all analogous situations.

What's the Rambam's rationale selecting these specific professions, ie limb / hand loss wrt squash patch guard, leg loss wrt door guard and loss of vision wrt mill worker?

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    They are the types of jobs people with that specific disability could do.
    – N.T.
    Aug 18, 2022 at 6:03
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    The mill one is likely a nod to Judges; the Philistines put blinded Samson to work pushing a millstone. (At least that's the literal reading; there's a midrash that reads "grinding" um, in a less-rated-G sense...)
    – Shalom
    Aug 18, 2022 at 8:56
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    Not "working in a mill" as in tending to customers. Being told "here is the wheel; we will feed grain into it, just keep pushing it around." In short, these made a lot of sense given the time and place.
    – Shalom
    Aug 18, 2022 at 8:57
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    כְּאִלּוּ הוּא טוֹחֵן בְּרֵחַיִם are the words of the Rambam; literally translated "as if he were grinding with a mill".
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Aug 18, 2022 at 10:24
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    Nowadays if he lost his legs he'd get paid as a software engineer or something
    – Heshy
    Aug 18, 2022 at 12:57

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