iv. For the same reason the Sadducees also insisted upon the literal explanation of the law in Deut. xix. 21, maintaining that false witnesses are only then to be executed when the sentence of the falsely accused had actually been carried out, in which case alone the words 'life for life' receive their literal fulfilment ; whereas the Pharisees con cluded from Deut. xix. 19, that if they are found out, even before the sentence has been carried out, they are to be executed, for it is there said, ye shall do unto him as he intended to do unto his brother.' Hence the intention is to be visited with capital punishment (Afirhna Iliaccoth, i. 6; Tosiphta San hedrin, cap. vi.) v. The law of inheritance formed another dis tinctive feature of the Sadducees. According to the Mosaic law the son alone is the rightful heir, and in case there is no son the daughter inherits the father's property (Num. xxvii. I- I I). Now the Sadducees maintained that in case the son, who is I tbe heir presumptive, has sisters, and he dies, leav ing a daughter, the property is not to go entirely to his female issue, but that the deceased's sisters are to have an equal share with his issue, urging that the deceased son's daughter is only the second de gree, whilst his sisters are the first degree. The
Pharisees, on the contrary, maintained that the deceased brother's daughter is the rightful and sole heir, inasmuch as she is the descendant of the male heir, whose simple existence disinherited his sisters (Afishna, Baba Bathra, viii. ; Babylonian Baba Bathra, 115 b; 116 ; Megillath Taanith, v. 2).
vi. From the law that the owner of cattle is re sponsible for damages done by his animals (ExeK.1. xxi. 2S, 29), the Sadducees maintained that a mas ter is responsible for damag,es done by his slave, submitting that he is far more answerable for him than his cattle, inasmuch as he is to watch over his moral conduct. The Pharisees, on the other hand, denied this, submitting that the slave is a rational, and hence a responsible creature, and that if the master be held answerable for his conduct, the dis satisfied slave might out of spite commit ravages in order to make his master pay (Alishna, yadajinz, iv. 7).