Halakhah for Sanhedrin 3:12
אין עושין עיר הנדחת אלא על פי בית דין של שבעים ואחד אין עושין עיר הנדחת בספר ולא שלש אבל עושין אחת או שתים
CAPITAL CASES ARE ADJUDICATED BY TWENTY-THREE. THE PERSON OR BEAST CHARGED WITH UNNATURAL INTERCOURSE, BY TWENTY-THREE, AS IT IS WRITTEN, THOU SHALT KILL THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XX, 16. ');"><sup>21</sup></span> AND ALSO, AND YE SHALL SLAY THE BEAST.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XX, 15. The procedure at the trial of the beast and the person is thus made alike. ');"><sup>22</sup></span>
Sefer HaChinukh
This commandment is practiced at the time of the [Temple] when Israel are in their inhabitation; since [only] then is it in our hand to judge capital cases. And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 2a) that we only judge a false prophet with a court of seventy-one [judges].
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