[Avodah] The impracticality of Torah criminal law

Marty Bluke marty.bluke at gmail.com
Sun Feb 2 07:32:31 PST 2025


After learning the first 45+ dapim of Sanhedrin it is patently clear that
it’s absolutely impossible to convict anyone of a crime in a Beis din. The
rules of evidence and the need for hasraah toch kdei dibbur make it
virtually impossible to convict anyone. The Ran in derasha 11 famously
writes that there was a parallel justice system run by the king which was
more practical. This raises a few questions.
1. The parallel justice system is not described anywhere, not in the
written Torah and not in the oral Torah. Why not? Do we have any idea what
the rules were?
2. The ran writes that the kings justice system was to fill in the gaps.
However, in truth it seems to me that it would have to have been the main
system as the Torah system could never punish anyone. Why would the Torah
create a justice system that is never used?
3. Does everyone agree with the Ran? I would be very surprised if they did.
What other approaches are there?
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