ABSTRACT
The Babylonian Talmud and some Tannaitic sources, however, do contain passages which imply that objection to the use of extra-legal considerations was occasionally voiced. The recognition that judges occasionally resort to extra-legal considerations is essential for a proper evaluation of judicial decisions, for any criticism of a judicial decision which relied upon extra-legal considerations will be utterly beside the point if it merely constitutes an argument that legal precedent required a different ruling. The objection to the ruling, then, is not an expression of opposition to the general principle that judges may occasionally have recourse to extra-legal considerations. In the informer case a certain man caused the confiscation of a heap of wheat by exposing it to a gentile authority. The Midreshei Halakhah contain some material which suggests a hostile attitude towards the employment of extra-legal considerations in judicial decisions.
