Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To not take surety from a debtor by force: That we have been prevented from taking surety from a debtor — meaning to say a borrower — with our hands by force, but rather through the command of a judge and through his agent; that we should not jump and come to the house of a debtor and take surety from him or grab a surety from him when we find him in the marketplace. And about this is it stated (Deuteronomy 24:10), “you must not enter his house to seize his pledge” — and it is not specifically the house [that was intended], but the same is true of one who grabs it from his hand in the marketplace. And the language of the Mishnah Bava Metzia 9:13 is “[If] one lends to his fellow, he may not extract surety except through the court, and he may not enter his house to take the pledge, as is written (Deuteronomy 24:11), ‘You must remain outside.’”

It is from the roots of the commandments [that it is] so that people not be as if abandoned and violence increase in the land; that the big one swallow up the small one and take surety from him by force without fear of him, and that the small one not be able to get his case against the big one from fear of his stature. And so, the verse equalized them, such that one not take surety for his debt from his fellow, but rather that it all be done according to the law. And thus, there will there be a betterment in the civilization of the world — as is the desire of its Creator, that it be [properly] inhabited.

From the laws of this commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (see Mishneh Torah, Creditor and Debtor 3:4) that it is one whether it is the creditor or the agent of the court, he is not allowed to go into the house of the debtor and take surety from him; but rather the debtor must bring the pledge outside to them. [If so,] what is the difference between an agent of the court and the [creditor] himself? That the agent of the court is permitted to strip the surety from the hand of the creditor by force when he finds him outside; whereas the creditor is not permitted to strip it from him, until the debtor hands it over with his consent. And the rest of the details of this commandment are elucidated in the ninth chapter of [Bava] Metzia.

And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females. And one who transgresses it, and takes surety from his debtor — whether at home or outside — by force, has violated this negative commandment. But there are no lashes for it, since it is rectified by a positive commandment, as it states, “You must return the pledge to him.” But if he did not fulfill the positive commandment in it and the pledge got lost or burnt — such that it is impossible to fulfill it any longer — he is liable for lashes. And [it is] like the matter that we wrote regarding the sending of the nest (Sefer HaChinukh 544) — as we hold like Rabbi Yochanan who said to the teacher, “It is taught, ‘He fulfilled it and he did not fulfill it’” (Makkot 16b). And the creditor takes the surety for the payment of his debt according to its worth, and claims the rest from the debtor according to law. This is the opinion of Rambam, may his memory be blessed (Mishneh Torah, Creditor and Debtor 3:4). And he also wrote that the creditor is liable for lashes the entire time that the surety is lost, since it is no longer in his hand to fix the negative commandment [that he transgressed]. And I wonder [about this] — since this is [an issue of] money, why can he not become exempt [from lashes] by repayment?