573. Not to accept testimony from a lone witness.

Status: Active
N-288

"One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." ~ Deut. 19:15

It is against the commandments and will of God that a person be punished in secular court based on the testimony of one witness.  Even if the witness is perfectly acceptable.  This further reiterates the concept of "innocent until proven guilty".  The twelfth-century legal theorist Maimonides coined the phrase "it is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons that to put a single innocent one to death." [1]

This commandment is a restriction on the power of secular government.  It is a boundary that God did not permit judges in Israel to cross.  This commandment has not been repealed, and is part of the definition of righteous judgement commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are bound to petition our leaders, or enact when possible, the same restrictions upon the governments in which we reside.  No human being should be punished by secular government without the required number of witnesses.

[1] Moses Maimonides, The Commandments, Neg. Comm. 290, at 269-271 (Charles B. Chavel trans., 1967).