Makkos 1:10-2:1

Makkos 1:10

If a convicted offender ran away after being sentenced and was later brought before the same court, his original sentence remains in effect. Whenever two witnesses testify that a person was condemned to execution by a certain court, naming the witnesses, that person is executed. A court of 23 judges has jurisdiction both in and out of Israel. If a court carries out one execution every seven years, it is considered a bloody court; Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says it’s considered a bloody court if it carries out one execution every 70 years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said that if they had been on a court, no one ever would have been executed (they would have examined the witnesses so thoroughly that no one would pass the examination). Rabban Gamliel says that wouldn’t have been good because the possibility of execution helps to minimize murders.

Makkos 2:1

A person who kills another accidentally is subject to exile. This includes: if he was rolling a stone on his roof, which fell and killed someone; if he was lowering a barrel, which fell on a person and killed him; if he was climbing down a ladder and fell on a person, killing him. However, if he was pulling the stone up and it fell and killed a person, or pulling the barrel up and the rope broke, causing it to fall and kill someone, or if he was climbing up the ladder and he fell on someone and killed him – in all of these cases, one is not exiled. The general rule is that anything that kills on the way down causes one to be is exiled but if it kills not on the way down, he is not exiled. If the head of an axe slips off the handle and kills someone, Rebbi says that he is not exiled but the Sages say that he is. If a chip flies from a tree that is being cut (and kills someone), Rebbi says he is exiled and the Sages say that he is not.