Here we'll talk about somebody who took the mother from the nest and violated the Torah. The Mishnah says that if somebody takes a mother bird while she's sitting on the young in her nest, the person receives Malkut (lashes), says Rabbi Yehuda. He violated the prohibition, “Don't take the mother while she's with the young.” At that point, there's no need to send away the mother bird. The mitzvah (commandment) of sending her away no longer applies. In other words, according to Rabbi Yehuda, once you take the mother in the wrong way, you can't send her away anymore. The Torah is telling us: don't take the mother; send her away, and then take the young. But once you took the mother, you already violated the prohibition, and sending her away does nothing at this point to fix what you did wrong. So therefore, he's punished with Malkut, even if he does send her away after that.
That's the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda. He has to send her away anyway. And when he does that, he would not receive the punishment of Malkut for taking her. According to the Hachamim (Sages), the idea of sending away the mother bird was said already for the person who violated the prohibition. He violated the commandment of taking the mother. So what the Torah is telling us, basically, is: don't take the mother. But if you did, send her away, and that's the way to fix up the wrong that you did. The Torah gives us this mitzvah as a way to fix something that you did wrong, and a person could save himself from Malkut if he fixes it up.
This is the general rule. This is the general rule: any prohibition, any negative commandment that goes along with something that's a mitzvah connected to it—a mitzvah that has a “don't do,” and then a “get up and do” after that. A person who does the mitzvah afterwards does not receive Malkut for violating that original prohibition. By basically fixing it up afterwards, you've done your part to negate the wrong that you did. This is called a lav hanitak la'aseh, a lav (negative commandment), a mitzvah, that's a negative commandment that's connected to a positive commandment. In other words, that positive command was given after a person may have violated the commandment, and it's a way to fix it up, to take away the problem of Malkut. And therefore, if you fix it up, you do not receive Malkut.