(6) The Mosaical legislation recognizes the hu man dignity of women and of slaves, and particu larly enjoins not to slander the deaf nor mislead the blind.
(7) The laws of Moses against crimes are se vere, but not cruel. The agony of the death of criminals was never artificially protracted.
(8) Moses expressly enjoined not to reap the corners of fields. in consideration of the poor, of persons of broken fortunes, and even of the beasts of the field.
(9) Punishments were inflicted, in order spe cially to express the sacred indignation of the Di vine Lawgiver against willful transgression of his commandments, and not for any purposes of hu man vengeance, or for the sake of frightening other criminals.
(10) In lawsuits very much was left to the dis cretion of the judges, whose position greatly re sembled that of a permanent jury, who had .not merely to decide whether a person was guilty, but who frequently had also to award the amount of punishment to be inflicted.
(11) In some instances the people at large were appealed to, in order to inflict summary punish ment by stoning the criminal to death. This was in fact the most' usual mode of execution. Other modes of execution, also, such as burning, were always public, and conducted with the co operation of the people.
(12) In the Old Testament we do not hear of a learned profession of the law. Lawyers (vol.tixol) are mentioned only after the decline of the Mo saical institutions had considerably advanced. As, however, certain laws concerning contagion and purification were administered by the priests, these might be• called lawyers. They, however, did not derive their maintenance from the ad ministration of these laws, but were supported by glebe-lands, tithes, and portions of the sacri ficial offerings. It is, indeed, very remarkable, that in a nation so entirely governed by law, there were no lawyers forming a distinct profes sion, and that the nom-i-koi, lawyers, of a later age were not somuch remarkable for enforcing the spirit of the law, as rather for ingeniously evad ing its injunctions, by leading the attention of the people from its spirit to a most minute literal ful fillment of its letter.
(13) The present article is, of course, closely in terwoven with the contents of a number of others which in this Encyclopxdia have preceded, or which follow it in alphabetical order, such as ADULTERY, BLOOD-REVENGE, DECALOGUE, DEUTER ON° MY, DIVORCE, EXODUS, GOSPEL LEVITICU S,