Commentary for Sanhedrin 1:3
סְמִיכַת זְקֵנִים וַעֲרִיפַת עֶגְלָה, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן. וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה. הַחֲלִיצָה וְהַמֵּאוּנִין, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה. נֶטַע רְבָעִי וּמַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי שֶׁאֵין דָּמָיו יְדוּעִין, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה. הַהֶקְדֵּשׁוֹת, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה. הָעֲרָכִין הַמִּטַּלְטְלִין, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אֶחָד מֵהֶן כֹּהֵן. וְהַקַּרְקָעוֹת, תִּשְׁעָה וְכֹהֵן. וְאָדָם, כַּיּוֹצֵא בָהֶן:
The placing of the hands of the elders (semichath zekenim) [on the bullock of he'elam davar, (communal transgression through judicial error)] (required three judges.) [Also implied is the appointment of a judge — the senior, ordained judge requiring two to join him when he wishes to ordain a sage to be called "Rebbi" and to rule in penalty (knass) judgments. The term "semichah" is used by reason of (Numbers 28:23): "And he (Moses) placed his hands upon him" (Joshua). It is not necessary (in our instance) that he place his hands upon him but that he add the title "Rebbi" to his name. There is no semichah outside of Eretz Yisrael, but both the ordainer and the one to be ordained must be in Eretz Yisrael. If this condition is satisfied, he has the authority to rule in knass judgment even outside of Eretz Yisrael, Sanhedrin functioning both in Eretz Yisrael and outside it following ordination in Eretz Yisrael. Rambam writes that it seems to him that at the present time, when there is no ordination, one man by another back to Moshe Rabbeinu, if all of the sages in Eretz Yisrael agreed to ordain one or many, they are duly ordained, and they are authorized to rule in knass judgments and to ordain others. The matter requires determination.] ("the placing of the hands of the elders") and the breaking of the neck of the heifer (see Deuteronomy 21:2) require three judges, [it being written (Leviticus 4:15): "the elders of the congregation." The minimum of elders is two, and a beth-din cannot be evenly balanced, so that another is added, making three.] These are the words of R. Shimon. R. Yehudah says: Five are required, [viz.: "And they shall place" — two; "the elders" — two, and a beth-din cannot be evenly balanced, so that another is added, making five. The halachah is in accordance with R. Yehudah.] Chalitzah (levirate refusal) and miunin (refusals) require three. [("Chalitzah":) It is written (Deuteronomy 25:9): "Then his yevamah shall draw near to him before the eyes of the elders": "elders" — two; and a beth-din cannot be evenly balanced, so that another is added, making three. The two others that are added are (added in order) to publicize the matter. ("miunin":) If a minor orphan girl were married to a man by her mother and brothers with her consent, and she (later) wished to leave him by miun ("refusal"), the miun must be before three judges. (In Yevamoth it is indicated that miun before two suffices.)] Neta revai (planting of the fourth year) [if he comes to redeem it for money] and [similarly] second-tithe, whose monetary value is not known [e.g., rotted fruit, which has no fixed price], and (Temple) dedications, [if one comes to redeem them] require three judges. Valuations in movables require three [i.e., If one said: "the valuation of that man is upon me" (to give to the Temple), and he had no money to give as per the monies specified in the section (on valuations), and he desired to give it in movables, three judges are required to assess those movables.] R. Yehudah said: One of them must be a Cohein, [it being written in respect to valuations (Leviticus 27:12): "as the Cohein valuates it for you."] And (valuations) in land require nine and a Cohein. [If he has no movables and he comes to give land, ten men, one of them a Cohein, must assess that land for the imposed valuation.] And the same applies for (the worth of) a man. [If he said: "The worth of that man is upon me" (to give to the Temple), in which instance the man's market value is assessed and the monies given, that assessment, likewise, requires ten men, one of them a Cohein.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Sanhedrin
English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
The rites of halitzah and “refusal” [are performed] before three.
The fruit of fourth year plantings and Second Tithes whose value is not known [are redeemed] before three.
Things dedicated to the Temple [are redeemed] before three.
Vows of evaluation to be redeemed with movable property, [are evaluated] before three. Rabbi Judah says: “One must be a priest.” [Vows of evaluation], [to be redeemed] with land [are evaluated] before nine and a priest.
And similarly [for the evaluation] of a man.
Mishnah three deals with the number of judges needed in cases that are of a religious/ritual nature.
Section one: According to Leviticus 4:13-21, when the whole community of Israel commits an accidental transgression, they must bring a bull as a sin offering. According to verse 15, before sacrificing the bull the elders would lay their hands on the bull’s head. Our mishnah teaches that this laying on of the hands was done by three judges.
The “breaking of the heifer’s neck” refers to Deut. 21:1-9. These verses describe a ritual of expiation that was to be done in the case where a person was found murdered but the murderer was unknown. Deuteronomy refers to “elders” who were to carry out the process and our mishnah teaches that there were three.
Section two: Halitzah is the refusal of the Levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5-10). If a woman’s husband dies and they have no offspring, his brother is obligated to marry her and bring forth offspring on his dead brother’s behalf. This is called “Levirate marriage”. If the brother should refuse to do so, they must go through a process called Halitzah before the woman is free to marry someone else. This is done in front of three judges.
“Refusal” refers to a daughter who was married off by her brother or mother. According to the Rabbis a father has a right to marry off his daughter while she is a minor and this marriage is totally binding and the girl cannot be released from the marriage except upon the death of the husband or divorce. However, a mother or brother’s ability to marry off the girl is less binding. When she becomes of a majority age she may refuse her husband and thereby annul the marriage. The “refusal” must be done in front of three judges.
Section three: Plants that are in their fourth year and the Second Tithe must be brought to Jerusalem and eaten there. If one lived far from Jerusalem and did not wish to carry all of this produce all the way to Jerusalem he could “redeem” the produce and bring the money to Jerusalem and use it to buy food there. The redeeming had to be done in front of three judges.
Section four: If a person dedicated an animal to the Temple that was not fit to be sacrificed, for instance a donkey, he could redeem the animal and donate the money to the Temple (Lev. 27:11). The redemption had to be done in front of three.
Section five: According to Lev. 27 a person could take a vow to donate his own value to the Temple. In such a case the Torah gives set amounts of money that must be donated to the Temple, depending on the age and gender of the one who took the vow. In general, since the Torah prescribes set amounts, no judges will be needed to evaluate how much the person owes. If however, the person has no money, he will need to donate some of his property. If the property to be donated is movable property a court of three is sufficient for its evaluation. According to Rabbi Judah, one of them must be a priest. If the property to be donated is land, a court of ten, including one priest is needed to determine the value of the land. According to Lev. 27:8, if the one who took the vow could not afford to donate his own value a priest was allowed to assess how much he could afford. According to the mishnah this assessment was done in front of a court of ten, which would include one priest.