[Avodah] Threats Against A Judge

[Zev Sero]

Ben Waxman wrote:
> RZSero wrote:

>> That's an explicit lav of "lo taguru".  As the Sifri says, "perhaps
>> you will say I am afraid of so-and-so lest he kill my son, or burn my 
>> grain-stack, or chop down my trees".  There's no question that one may
>> not give a false psak, and that this overrides pikuach nefesh...

> I don't have my HM handy, but IIRC there is a way out if the judge is 
> afraid. The judge does not have to accept a case if one of the sides is 
> violent and he is fearful for his life. Once he accepts the case 
> however, then the prohibition of lo taguru applies.

Whether and in what circumstances he can recuse himself from the case
is the subject of the article I linked to.  It is not clear that he
can refuse a case, especially if he is a BD kavua, whose job it is to
take the public's cases.  It's discussed by the poskim, which is why
I linked the article.  But the question here was not about recusal but
about giving a false psak, and certainly lo taguru applies here, and
by definition overrides pikuach nefesh.

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