To Qualify as a “Murderous Court”

If one fled after having been convicted at a court and again comes up before the same court, the [first] judgment is not set aside. Wherever two witnesses stand up and declare, “We testify that so-and-so was tried and convicted at a certain court and that so-and-so were the witnesses,” the accused is executed. [Trials before] a Sanhedrin are customary both in the land [of Israel] and outside it. A Sanhedrin that executes once in seven years is called murderous. R. Eleazar ben Azariah says: Once in seventy years. R. Tarfon and R. Akiva say: Had we been members of a Sanhedrin, no person would ever be put to death. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel remarked: They would also multiply murderers in Israel.

Adapted from the translation ofJoshua Kulp.