[Avodah] Din Moser

[Zev Sero]

Yitzhak Grossman wrote:

> Incidentally, they also state there that this Halachah applies even
> today, even though we don't judge dinei ne'fashos, answering a question
> raised earlier in this thread.

This follows from the fact that it doesn't depend on a BD.  The reason
we don't have dinei nefashot today is because we haven't got a BD.  Since
the killing of a rodef or moser is not given over to BD but is in the
hands of every person, it follows that there's no reason it should have
gone away.  Further, it is logically obvious that a rodef must be killed
in all ages and by whomever has a clear shot; it's not so obvious that the
same applies to a moser, but halacha treats moser as a kind of rodef, so
the same criteria apply.  Nevertheless, at least some anecdotal evidence
from the USSR and from WW2 suggests that it was customary to convene a
BD of 23, when possible.

-- 
Zev Sero                    A mathemetician is a device for turning coffee
zev at sero.name               into theorems.                   - Paul Erdos