These are the judgments you shall place before them.” (Shemot 21:1)
The Zohar on Parshat Mishpatim 94a comments “These are the orders of reincarnations.”
This may seem perplexing at first glance, as the verse appears to explain the laws of monetary damages. However, I have heard that in matters of judgment, when one judges another in court and knows within himself that he is unquestionably in the right, yet the Torah mandates a verdict against him, he should not be troubled by this apparent contradiction. Instead, he should consider that in a past reincarnation, he might have been indebted to the other litigant. The Torah now requires him to pay as a means of fulfilling his past obligation.
The litigant who deceitfully takes the money will also face consequences in the future. This scenario is prevalent in matters of law and damages. This is what the Zohar hints at when it mentions "These are the judgments." These monetary cases, even if they appear to contradict the truth, are part of the order of reincarnations. They serve as Hashem's way of settling disputes between litigants, as He created the souls and knows their behavior in past reincarnations.
It is suggested that these judgments, though seemingly against the truth, are, in fact, the order of reincarnations. Even though they may go against the apparent truth, they are the true laws of reincarnations. The Creator, who knows how souls behaved in previous incarnations, governs and directs His world according to the Torah with kindness, mercy, justice, and true judgment to adjudicate between individuals, neighbors, and all possessions, as dictated by God. This encompasses a broad perspective.
Source: Degel Machaneh Efrayim, Parshat Mishpatim - Classic Chassidic work by Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov, a grandson of Baal Shem Tov
