The laws is based on the Scriptural provision, "If any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcass fall thereon, it shall be unclean" (Lev.
A precedent under this rule is cited from the history of the last days of Judea's struggle against the Romans, when some citizens of Jerusalem secured their fig-cakes from the sicarii by hiding them under water, the Rabbis deciding that, under the circumstances, the submersion did not predispose the food to uncleanness.
The majority rule is not limited to questions of clean and unclean; it serves as a criterion in other matters, ritual and even civil.
Chapter 6:4-8 enumerates the mashkin which render loose fruit liable to Levitical uncleanness through contact with defiling objects.
According to the Rabbis, the term "mashkin" covers seven kinds of liquid: dew, water, wine, oil, blood, milk, and honey (see Tosefta, Shabbat 8 [9] 24-28, where Scriptural phraseology is adduced to prove the connotation of "mashkeh").