Invalidation of A Pair of Witnesses
A pair of witnesses may be invalidated if:
- Two other witnesses directly contradict their testimony. (In Hebrew, this is hakchasha, הכחשה.)
- Two other witnesses testify that at the moment the original witnesses claim they saw the incident, those witnesses were with them and could not have witnessed an event elsewhere. The second pair of witnesses knows nothing about the substance of the matter, but rather undermines the standing of the first pair of witnesses to claim they saw the incident. This undermining is called hazama, הזמה. Witnesses found to have lied under this provision are punished with whatever punishment would have befallen their intended victim. Thus, if they plotted to make a victim suffer capital punishment, the witnesses themselves must suffer capital punishment.
- Blood relatives are not allowed to be witnesses or judges in the same case (Sanhedrin chapter 3 lists which blood relatives are included). This is a fundamental exclusion, without regard to the specific nature of a possible conflict of interest in a particular case.
- Any witness who is established by other witnesses as a liar or robber or other miscreant is invalid. There is a general rule that if one person among a group of witnesses is disqualified, they are all disqualified, even if the original disqualification does not question the truthfulness of the disqualified witness, and even if there remain two other witnesses (Makkot chapter 1).
Read more about this topic: Testimony In Jewish Law
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