Translation:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Sanhedrin/Chapter 3/6
Introduction
[edit]Sanhedrin deals primarily with the court and with court cases. The third chapter of Sanhedrin is focused on witnesses and court proceedings.
The sixth mishnah of this chapter explains examination of the witnesses' testimonies and rendering of the verdict in a monetary case.
Hebrew Text
[edit]- כיצד בודקים את העדים, היו מכניסין אותן ומאימין עליהן ומוציאין את כל האדם לחוץ ומשירין את הגדול שבהן ואומרים לו אמור היאך אתה יודע שזה חיב לזה.
- אם אמר הוא אמר לי שאני חיב לו, איש פלוני אמר לי שהוא חיב לו, לא אמר כלום, עד שיאמר בפנינו הודה לו שהוא חיב לו מאתים זוז.
- ואחר כך מכניסין את השני ובודקים אותו.
- אם נמצאו דבריהם מכונים, נושאים ונותנין בדבר.
- שנים אומרים זכאי ואחד אומר חיב, זכאי.
- שנים אומרים חיב ואחד אומר זכאי, חיב.
- אחד אומר זכאי ואחד אומר חיב ואפלו שנים מזכין או שנים מחיבין ואחד אומר איני יודע, יוסיפו הדינים.
English Translation
[edit]How are the witnesses checked? They bring them in and warn them, and send each man outside, but keep the greatest among them. And they say to him: "Say how you know that the one owes the other." If he says, "he told me, 'I owe him,'" or "So-and-so told me that he owes him" - this means nothing. Only if he says "in front of us, he told him 'I owe you 200 zuz.'" And after this, they bring in the second (witness) and check him. If they find that their words are the same, they [the judges] discuss the matter. (If) two say innocent, and one says guilty, (the verdict is) innocent. Two say guilty and one says innocent, (the verdict is) guilty. One says innocent and one says guilty, or even if the two acquit or the two convict and one says he does not know, add judges.
Explanation
[edit]This mishnah is one of the more detailed mishnayot in terms of description of a process. It describes how judges handle the testimony of witnesses and how to render a verdict. Some important terms:
200 zuz - One zuz is a silver coin weighing one-quarter of a shekel. The particular debt does not matter, the 200 zuz is just an anonymous debt, and this mishnah also refers to ish ploni, the Hebrew version of John Doe.
Add judges - This is similar to an earlier mishnah, Sanhedrin 1:2, in which there is an explanation of adding two judges at a time at a different times in the process of calendar calculations. It will also be explained later in the mishnah in relation to capital cases.