Daily Mitzvah (Rambam)

The 286th prohibition is that a judge is forbidden from accepting testimony from a wicked person and from acting based on his testimony.

The source of this prohibition is G‑d's statement1 (exalted be He), "Do not place your hand with a wicked person to be a corrupt witness." The Oral Tradition2 explains that this means, "Do not place a wicked person as a witness; do not place a corrupt person as a witness." This disqualifies corrupt individuals and robbers, who are invalid for testimony, as it is written,3 "Do not take a corrupt witness against any person."

The details of this mitzvah are explained in the third chapter4 of tractate Sanhedrin.

Footnotes

1.

Ex. 23:1.

2.

Mechilta, Parshas Shoftim.

3.

Deut. 19:16. The verse actually reads, "If a corrupt witness...."

4.

27a.