Sanhedrin

GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: What is meant by BASED ON CONJECTURE? — He [the judge] says to them: Perhaps ye saw him running after his fellow into a ruin, ye pursued him, and found him sword in hand with blood dripping from it, whilst the murdered man was writhing [in agony]: If this is what ye saw, ye saw nothing. It has been taught: R. Simeon b. Shatah said: May I never see comfort  if I did not see a man pursuing his fellow into a ruin, and when I ran after him and saw him, sword in hand with blood dripping from it, and the murdered man writhing, I exclaimed to him: Wicked man, who slew this man? It is either you or I!  But what can I do, since thy blood [i.e., life] does not rest in my hands, for it is written in the Torah, At the mouth of two witnesses etc., shall he that is to die be put to death?  May he who knows one's thoughts exact vengeance from him who slew his fellow! It is related that before they moved from the place a serpent came and bit him [the murderer] so that he died. But should this man [have died] through a serpent? Did not R. Joseph say, and so too it was taught in the school of Hezekiah: From the day the Temple was destroyed, although the Sanhedrin was abolished, the four modes of execution were not abolished? They were not abolished, [you say,] but surely they were! — But the law of the four modes of execution was not abolished:  He who is worthy of stoning either falls from the roof,  or is trampled to death by a wild beast; he who merits burning either falls into the fire or is bitten by a serpent;  he who is worthy of decapitation is either delivered to the [gentile] Government  or brigands attack him; he who is worthy of strangulation is either drowned in a river or dies of suffocation?  — I will tell you: that man was guilty of another crime,  for a Master said: One who incurs two death penalties imposed by Beth din is executed by the severer. BASED ON CONJECTURE. Thus, only in capital charges do we disallow conjecture, but permit it in civil suits.  Who [is the authority for this]? — R. Aha. For it has been taught: R. Aha said: If among camels there is a lustful one, and a camel is found killed by its side, it is certain that this one killed it.  Now, on your reasoning,  when he [the Tanna] regards EVIDENCE FROM THE MOUTH OF ANOTHER WITNESS [as invalid]: it is only in capital charges that we do not admit it; whilst we do in monetary cases? But did we not learn: If he [the witness] says: He [the defendant] said to me, 'I owe him [the money],' or, 'So and so told me that he owes him,' his statement is worthless,  unless he states, 'In our presence  he admitted to him that he owed him two hundred zuz!'  This proves that although [such evidence] is inadmissible in monetary cases too, we caution them  only in capital cases. So in the present instance,  though it [sc. conjecture] is inadmissible in civil suits too, we nevertheless admonish them only in capital cases. KNOW THAT etc. Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya said: This teaches that Cain inflicted upon his brother many blows and wounds, because he knew not whence the soul departs,  until he reached his neck.  Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya also said: Since the day the earth opened her mouth to receive the blood of Abel, she has never opened it again, for it is written, From the edge of the earth have we heard songs, glory to the righteous:  implying, from the 'edge' of the earth, but not from the mouth of the earth. Hezekiah his brother objected thereto: And the earth opened her mouth!  — He answered: She opened if for evil,  but not for good. Rab Judah the son of R. Hiyya also said: Exile atones for the half of men's sins. Earlier [in the Cain narrative] it is written, And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer;  but later, And he dwelt in the land of Nod [wandering]. Rab Judah said: Exile makes remission for three things, for it is written, Thus saith the Lord etc. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth away to the Chaldeans who beseige you he shall live and his life shall be unto him for a prey.  R. Johanan said: Exile atones for everything, for it is written, Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.  Whereas after he [the king] was exiled, it is written, And the sons of Jechoniah, — the same is Assir — Shealtiel his son etc.  [He was called] Assir,  because his mother conceived him in prison. Shealtiel,  because God did not plant him  in the way that others are planted. We know by tradition that a woman cannot conceive in a standing position.