Gittin 59A

אנא הואי במניינא דבי רבי, ומינאי דידי מנו ברישא.

I was present for the counting of the vote in the court set up in the school of R' Yehuda HaNasi when they established this ordinance, and they would start with me first, asking for my opinion on the matter, although I was the youngest member of the court.

והאנן תנן: דיני ממונות והטהרות והטמאות ⁠– מתחילין מן הגדול, ודיני נפשות מתחילין מן הצד!

The Talmud asks: But didn’t we learn in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 32a): In cases of monetary law and in cases involving ritual purities and impurities, the judges begin their deliberations with the opinion of the most learned member sitting on the bench, as a demonstration of honor to him. But in cases of capital law, they begin their deliberations with the opinion of the youngest member who sits on one of the side benches of the court, lest the junior members be unduly influenced by the opinion of their elders, and people come to be wrongfully executed as a result. The matter involving Rav was not a capital case. Why did they begin their deliberations with Rav, who was certainly not the most learned member of the court, as that designation clearly belonged to R' Yehuda HaNasi?

אמר רבה בריה דרבא, ואיתימא רבי הילל בריה דרבי וולס: שאני מנינא דבי רבי, דכולהו מנינייהו מן הצד הוו מתחילין.

And Rabba, son of Rava, says, and some say that it was R' Hillel, son of R' Volas, who says: The counting of the vote in the court in the school of R' Yehuda HaNasi was different, as all of their deliberations and countings of the vote would begin with the junior members sitting on the side. This was because R' Yehuda HaNasi was held in such high esteem that once he expressed his opinion, nobody would be so brazen as to contradict him.