Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Musar for Sanhedrin 91:8

אלא אי איתמר הכי איתמר לא שנו אלא במיתה אחת כעין שתי מיתות והיכי דמי כגון שתי עבירות אבל במיתה אחת ועבירה אחת דנין

that the cases should not [legally] have been tried! — But if a statementwas made, it was made thus: They taught this only of a single death penaltyappearing as two. And how can that be? E.g., [when one is accused of] twodifferent transgressions.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., the desecration of the Sabbath and idolatry, although both are punishable by the same penalty — stoning. Two such cases may not be tried on the same day. All the more so cases involving two different modes of execution may certainly not be tried on the same day. ');"><sup>15</sup></span> But casesdealing with the same transgression and the same mode of execution may betried.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But in the instance of Simeon the son of Shetah the women were convicted for what Scripture regards as two different branches of witchcraft, viz., necromancy and charming. Cf. Lev. XX, 27; hence the Rabbis remarked that his action was illegal, but that it was done in an emergency. ');"><sup>16</sup></span>

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

Prior to the appointment of the first king, the Sanhedrin performed both functions, i.e. משפט התורה as well as הוראת שעה. This is one of the reasons Moses is referred to in our traditonal sources as מלך, king. This is also why, after the destruction of the Temple when Israel no longer had a king, Rabbi Eliezer is on record as saying: "I have heard that (nowadays) a Jewish Court of Law may administer corporal punishment even when Torah law does not call for this."
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