XII.3 Continuation of the same subject

The laws that send a man to his death on the depo­si­tion of a sin­gle wit­ness are fatal to free­dom. Reason requi­res two, because a wit­ness who asserts and an accu­sed who denies make a tie, and there must be a third to decide it.

The Greeks¹ and the Romans² requi­red an addi­tio­nal voice in order to condemn. Our French laws require two. The Greeks clai­med that their prac­tice had been esta­bli­shed by the gods,³ but it is ours.