According to most Jewish writers, there were two scribes or secretaries
of the Sanhedrin. But several others contend that there were three.
Benny says: "Three scribes were present; one was seated on the right,
one on the left, the third in the center of the hall. The first recorded
the names of the judges who voted for the acquittal of the accused, and
the arguments upon which the acquittal was grounded. The second noted
the names of such as decided to condemn the prisoner and the reasons
upon which the conviction was based. The third kept an account of both
the preceding so as to be able at any time to supply omissions or check
inaccuracies in the memoranda of his brother reporters."[95]
In addition to these officers, there were still others who executed
sentences and attended to all the police work of legal procedure. They
were called _shoterim_.[96]
There was no such officer as a public prosecutor or State's attorney
known to the laws of the ancient Hebrews. The witnesses to the crime
were the only prosecutors recognized by Hebrew criminal jurisprudence;
and in capital cases they were the legal executioners as well.
There was also no such body as the modern Grand Jury known to ancient
Hebrew criminal law. And no similar body of committee of the Sanhedrin
performed the accusatory functions of the modern Grand Jury. The
witnesses were the only accusers, and their testimony was both the
indictment and the evidence. Until they testified, the man suspected was
deemed not only innocent but unaccused.
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