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B"H
QUESTION: What would we do with a person who gave false testimony in a court of law about another person, and the court (based upon that man's testimony) passed the verdict that the other man is liable to the death sentence. But after they issued out the sentence and executed the man, it was learned that the man was innocent and should not have died. The man who brought the testimony, simply brought false testimony against the man. What do we do with the false testifier? ANSWER: Actually, in Jewish Law, we do nothing to the man who brought the false testimony. The reason being that what has happened has already happened. The Torah makes the false testifier guilty only if it was learned by the court that he had brought false testimony before they executed the other man. As it is written, "You shall do unto him as he imagined to do unto his brother.." (Devorim 19: 19) Meaning, so long as the thing is only a mere potentiality, and the thing has not yet occurred, can the false testifier be brought to take on the same charges as he thought to bring upon another, when proven that the charges were trumped up. Yet, if the sentence has already been given, and because of his testimony the court has already executed an innocent man, the court has no longer any power to punish the false testifier. For the Torah does not say, "you shall do unto him as he did unto his brother." In the case of the false testifier who brought about the unwarranted death of another, we say here, "What has happened has happened." (The false testifier is punishable, on the other hand, by the hand of heaven, while the judges of the court who passed ruling in an innocent man's death are held blameless, according to a principle with us: "A judge has naught on which to base his verdict except that which has been laid before his eyes." - אין לדיין אלא מה שעיניו רואות) This is how the matter is ruled in all of our books on Jewish Law. |
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GY Moderator  |
R' David,
I think what you are referring to is the case of "Eidim Zom'mim" where a second set of witnesses come along and testify before Beis Din that the first set could not have witnessed what they testified about as they were with the second set at the time. This is a special case and is not the same as another set of witnesses testifying that the first set were merely lying. In that case the Beis Din (or, rather, the Sanhedrin) will have to make up their own minds whom to believe. |
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B"H
Thanks, Rebbe Yisroel. Obviously, there are more details to this episode than what are here given. For example, a court of no less than twenty-three judges are also needed to issue the death sentence. We have only touched, "on the surface," the gist of the matter, and why it is that a false testifier would be unpunished by the court had second witnesses came along after the execution of judgment and said that the first set of witnesses were actually with them during the purported crime that carried with it a capital offence. David |
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GY Teacher |
Quote "This is a special case and is not the same as another set of witnesses testifying that the first set were merely lying. In that case the Beis Din (or, rather, the Sanhedrin) will have to make up their own minds whom to believe."
I think that they cancel each other out and Bais Din just throws the whole case out and don't believe either. ____________ http://limudtorah.jewishweb.org Please help the Global Yeshiva to continue spreading high quality Torah by sponsoring a Shiur in the "Understanding Mishna Brurah" forum. All sponsorships are tax deductible. |
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