Reference for Gittin 56:16

א"ד א"ר יוסף ל"ש אלא בב"ד של עובדי כוכבים

<b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. R. Joseph said: This rule [with regard to a man led out to execution] applies only to Israelite courts,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because new evidence may come to light and he may be tried again and acquitted. V. Sanh. 42b. ');">¹⁵</span> but in the case of a heathen court once he is condemned to execution, [there is no question that] he is executed.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And therefore we do not presume him to be alive for any purposes. ');">¹⁶</span> Said Abaye to him: Do not the heathen courts sometimes take a bribe? — He replied: If they do, it is only before the writ is signed with the words Pursi shanmag,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to Jastrow puris nameh, Persian for 'investigation paper', 'verdict'. ');">¹⁷</span> but after it has been signed pursi shanmag they will not take a bribe. An objection was raised [from the following]: 'Whenever two persons come forward and say, We testify against So-and-so that he was condemned to death in such-and-such a <i>Beth din</i>, So-and-so and So-and-so being the witnesses against him, such a man has to be put to death'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which seems to show that after condemnation by an Israelite court we do not assume the possibility that he might have subsequently been acquitted as a result of new evidence; v. Mak. 7a. ');">¹⁸</span> — Perhaps [a condemned person] who escapes is different.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The passage speaks of one who escaped justice. His flight is a proof of his guilt. ');">¹⁹</span> Come and hear: If he heard [a report] from an Israelite court that So-and-so died or was put to death, they allow his wife to marry again [If, however, the report came] from heathen<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] cf. Lat. commentariensis, registrars of prisoners, jailers (Jast.). ');">²⁰</span> jailers that he died or was put to death, they do not allow his wife to marry again. Now what is meant here by 'died' and 'put to death'? Shall I say these terms are to be taken literally? Then why in the case of heathens is the wife not allowed to marry again, seeing that it is a recognised principle that [the word of] a heathen speaking without ulterior motive<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'talking in his simplicity'. ');">²¹</span> is to be accepted [in questions relating to marriage]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And therefore we regard the first husband as dead. ');">²²</span> I must therefore understand the words 'died' and 'put to death' in the sense of 'Taken out to die'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [By some means other than the four prescribed deaths, v. Sanh. 81b; or in the case of a heathen court, by casting into a furnace, (Rashi)]. ');">²³</span> or 'to be put to death'; and yet it states [that if the report comes] from an Israelite court they do allow the wife to marry again?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which seems to contradict the Mishnah as interpreted by R. Joseph. ');">²⁴</span> — [The passage quoted means] really 'died' and really 'put to death', and as for your question why in such a case [if the report comes] from a heathen court is she not allowed to marry again, seeing that it is a recognised principle with us that [the word of] a heathen speaking without ulterior motive is to be accepted, [the answer is that] this applies only to a matter in which they themselves have not participated,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And which therefore they cannot boast about. ');">²⁵</span> but where the matter is one in which they themselves have participated, they are prone to indulge in falsehood.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., that their Court has executed a Jew, though they have not actually seen the execution. [This reading follows Rashi, cur. edd.: to hold firm to their falsehood.] ');">²⁶</span> [The following is] another version [of the above passage]. R. Joseph said: This rule applies only to heathen courts,

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