Makkot 7A

אילעא וטוביה, קריביה דערבא הוה. סבר רב פפא למימר: גבי לוה ומלוה רחיקי נינהו. אמר ליה רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע לרב פפא: אי לית ליה ללוה, לאו בתר ערבא אזיל מלוה?

Apropos disqualified witnesses, the Talmud relates: Two people called Ile’a and Tuviyya, who signed as witnesses on a promissory note, were relatives of the guarantor of the loan. Rav Pappa thought to say that since vis-à-vis the borrower and lender these witnesses are distant and are not related, their testimony on the document is valid. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said to Rav Pappa: If the borrower does not have the means to repay the loan, doesn’t the lender pursue the guarantor to claim his debt? Therefore, the guarantor is party to the loan, and his relatives are not eligible to serve as witnesses on the promissory note.

מתני׳ מי שנגמר דינו, וברח, ובא לפני אותו בית דין ⁠– אין סותרין את דינו. כל מקום שיעמדו שנים ויאמרו: ״מעידים אנו באיש פלוני שנגמר דינו בבית דין של פלוני, ופלוני ופלוני עדיו״⁠ – הרי זה יהרג.

Mishnah: This Mishnah continues to discuss the matter of testimony in the case of one who is liable to be executed. Concerning one whose verdict was delivered and he was sentenced to death and he fled, and he then came before the same court that sentenced him, they do not overturn his verdict and retry him. Rather, the court administers the previous verdict. Consequently, in any place where two witnesses will stand and say: We testify with regard to a man called so-and-so that his verdict was delivered and he was sentenced to death in the court of so-and-so, and so-and-so and so-and-so were his witnesses, that person should be executed on the basis of that testimony.

סנהדרין נוהגת בארץ ובחוצה לארץ. סנהדרין ההורגת אחד בשבוע נקראת חובלנית. רבי אליעזר בן עזריה אומר: אחד לשבעים שנה. רבי טרפון ורבי עקיבא אומרים: אילו היינו בסנהדרין לא נהרג אדם מעולם. רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: אף הן מרבין שופכי דמים בישראל.

The Mishnah continues: The mitzva to establish a Sanhedrin with the authority to administer capital punishments is in effect both in Eretz Yisrael and outside Eretz Yisrael. A Sanhedrin that executes a transgressor once in 7 years is characterized as a destructive tribunal. Since the Sanhedrin would subject the testimony to exacting scrutiny, it was extremely rare for a defendant to be executed. R' Elazar ben Azarya says: This categorization applies to a Sanhedrin that executes a transgressor once in 70 years. R' Tarfon and R' Akiva say: If we had been members of the Sanhedrin, we would have conducted trials in a manner by which no person would have ever been executed. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: In adopting that approach, they too would increase the number of murderers among the Jewish people. The death penalty would lose its deterrent value, as all potential murderers would know that no one is ever executed.