The Great Sanhedrin was composed of seventy-one [judges], and a lesser one of twenty-three. From where [do we know] that the great one was seventy-one? Because it says: Gather to me seventy men from the leaders of Israel, and Moses [pre-sided] over them; hence, seventy-one. R’ Yehudah says: Seventy. And from where [do we know] that a lesser one is com-prised of twenty-three? Because it says: And the congregation shall judge ... and the congregation shall save —- a congrega-tion which judges and a congregation which saves; we thus arrive at twenty. And from where [do we know] that a congregation consists of ten? Because it says: Until when, this evil congregation? —- which excludes Joshua and Caleb. And from where do we [know to] include another three? From the implication of that which it says: Do not follow a majority to convict, I may infer that I should follow them to exonerate. If so, why does it say: according to the majority [the matter] shall be de-cided? [This teaches that] the decision to convict is unlike the decision to exonerate. The decision to exonerate turns on the vote of one; [while] the decision to convict [must] turn on the vote of two. But since no court may consist of an even number, we must add another, for a total of twenty-three.  How many must be in a town to warrant a sanhedrin? One hundred and twenty. R’ Nechemiah says: Two hundred and thirty, corresponding to the officers of the tens.