Nezikin נזיקין
The order of courts and damages—and in it Pirkei Avot, the one tractate of the Mishnah without a single law.
The three "gates"—Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, Bava Batra—were once a single tractate on civil law, divided by size: damages, lost property and loans, ownership and inheritance. Sanhedrin is on the court, on capital punishment, and on who has a share in the world to come. Makkot, Shevuot, Eduyot, Avodah Zarah and Horayot deal with punishment, oaths, testimonies, foreign worship and the errors of a court.
And here too stands Avot—six chapters of moral sayings, from "Moses received the Torah at Sinai" to the rules of study. There is not one law in it, and that is precisely why it is read aloud on the Sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot: as the Talmud says, "one who wishes to be pious, let him fulfil the words of Nezikin."
The order has 10 tractates: Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, Bava Batra, Sanhedrin, Makkot, Shevuot, Eduyot, Avodah Zarah, Avot, Horayot.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Shabbat 31a — «yeshuot» — this is the order of Nezikin
- Bava Kamma 102a — the three «gates» were one tractate
- Bava Kamma 30a — «one who wishes to be pious, let him fulfil the words of Nezikin»
- Mishnah Avot 1:1 — «Moses received the Torah at Sinai»
Basis: Talmud and midrash.