Sanhedrin veha`Onashin haMesurin lahem

Hilchot Sanhedrin V'HaOnshin Hamesurim Lahem - The Laws of the Courts and the Penalties placed under their Jurisdiction

These laws contain 30 mitzvot: Ten positive commandments and twenty negative commandments. They are:

1. To appoint judges,

2. Not to appoint a judge who does not know the proper manner of judgment

3. To follow the majority if there is a difference of opinion among the judges

4. Not to issue a death sentence if there is a majority of only one condemning the defendant; rather, a majority of at least two is necessary,

5. For a judge who argued in favor of acquittal in a capital case not to argue for a conviction,

6. To execute by stoning the condemned to death,

7. To execute by burning the condemned to death,

8. To execute by decapitation,

9. To execute by strangulation,

10. To hang the corpses of certain sinners who were executed,

11. To bury the executed person on the day of his execution,

12. Not to allow his corpse to remain unburied overnight,

13. Not to allow a sorcerer to live,

14. To punish a sinner with lashes,

15. Not to add blows when lashing a sinner,

16. Not to punish a person forced to commit a sin,

17. Not to kill an innocent person based on an apparent conclusion,

18. Not to have mercy on a person who killed or injured a colleague,

19. Not to have mercy on a poor person in judgment,

20. Not to honor a man of stature in judgment,

21. Not to pervert judgment against a sinner even though he is known to be a transgressor,

22. Not to act deceitfully in judgment,

23. Not to pervert the justice due converts or orphans,

24. To render a righteous judgment,

25. For a Judge not to fear rendering a just judgment because of a powerful person,

26. Not to accept a bribe,

27. Not to curse the judges,

28. Not to accept a false report,

29. Not to curse the nasi,

30. Not to curse any other Jew of moral repute.

The explanation of these mitzvot is found in the coming chapters.