תלמוד על סנהדרין 72:13

“The Synhedrion was like a semicircular threshing floor,” etc. It is written: Do not bend your destitute’s proceeding in his trial⁸¹Ex. 23:6. The protection accorded defendants in criminal trials cannot be made dependent on the defendant’s status.. In his trial you do not bend; you may bend in the ox’s trial⁸²While the ox who killed a human is on trial for its life, the rules are those of civil suits since the ox represents its owner’s money.. Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: But only in those rules which are different for civil and criminal suits. How many are these? We have stated nine⁸³In Mishnaiot 1–7. The Babli, 36b, points out that there is another difference stated in Mishnah 8, but the exclusion of bastards is implicit already in the choice of 23 judges since these judges must in theory be qualified to serve in Moses’s council.; Rebbi Ḥiyya stated eleven. Which rules are the last two? The castrate and one who never had children⁸⁴The Babli, 36b, also excludes men too old to remember the trouble they had in raising their children, who also would be inclined to cruelty. is qualified to judge civil suits but not criminal suits. Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Also one who is less than twenty years of age or who does not have two pubic hairs⁸⁵Although he is past age 20 he still is infantile; cf. Yebamot 10:17 Notes 221–227. is qualified to judge civil suits but not criminal suits. Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina said thirteen. Which rules are the last two? One judges two civil suits on one day but one does not try two criminal suits on one day. Rebbi Abin said, even adulterer and adulteress⁸⁶Where the proof of guilt of one person equally applies to the other. In the Babli, 46a, Rav Ḥisda restricts this to the case where the statutory punishments are different, such as adultery with a Cohen’s daughter, where the adulterer is strangled but the adulteress burned. There is no reason to transfer this statement to the Yerushalmi. Cf. Note 35..