In the following essay, an attempt is made at tracing the history of
capital punishment among the Jews. From the Biblical period onwards,
there took place a long and complex development of the principles, the
methods and the application of capital punishment.
The story of this development is contained chiefly in the Old and the
New Testaments, Josephus, the Rabbinic writings and the Responsa of
the Middle Ages. The following study, which is based on these sources,
attempts to make clear what was the nature of this development.