If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.
These laws are, I. Concerning trusts, Exo 22:7-13. If a man deliver goods, suppose to a carrier to be conveyed, or to a warehouse-keeper to be preserved, or cattle to a farmer to be fed, upon a valuable consideration, and if a special confidence be reposed in the person they are lodged with, in case these goods be stolen or lost, perish or be damaged...
Commenting on Exodus 22:7-15
If the thief be not found,.... And so no account can be given of the goods deposited, what is become of them, and it becomes a doubtful case whether they have been stolen or embezzled, and there is suspicion of the latter: then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges: here called Elohim, gods, because they were God's vicegerents, and represented...
If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, [to see] whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. (d) That is, whether he has stolen.