Related%20passage for Sanhedrin 4:4

וְשָׁלֹשׁ שׁוּרוֹת שֶׁל תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים יוֹשְׁבִין לִפְנֵיהֶם, כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מַכִּיר אֶת מְקוֹמוֹ. הָיוּ צְרִיכִין לִסְמֹךְ, סוֹמְכִין מִן הָרִאשׁוֹנָה. אֶחָד מִן הַשְּׁנִיָּה בָּא לוֹ לָרִאשׁוֹנָה וְאֶחָד מִן הַשְּׁלִישִׁית בָּא לוֹ לַשְּׁנִיָּה, וּבוֹרְרִין לָהֶן עוֹד אֶחָד מִן הַקָּהָל וּמוֹשִׁיבִין אוֹתוֹ בַשְּׁלִישִׁית. וְלֹא הָיָה יוֹשֵׁב בִּמְקוֹמוֹ שֶׁל רִאשׁוֹן, אֶלָּא יוֹשֵׁב בְּמָקוֹם הָרָאוּי לוֹ:

And three rows of Torah scholars sat before them. [There were twenty-three in each row, lest the judges be split, the majority (i.e., a majority of one) indicting, and a minority acquitting, and "inclination for ill" is not with one, viz. (Exodus 23:2): "Do not be after many for ill," so that two must be added, until seventy-one, that number never being exceeded. Therefore, forty-eight (Torah scholars) must be added for the complement of seventy-one. And because it is not respectful to make a row of Torah scholars more numerous than the judges, three rows are made.] And each of them knew his place. [For they were seated in order of their wisdom, so that each one had to know his place.] If they had to ordain (one as a judge) [as when one of the judges died], they would do so from the first (row). One from the second (row) would come to the first, and one from the third would come to the second. And they would pick another one from the congregation and seat him in the third (row). He would not sit in the place of the first, but in the place fit for him, [at the end of the third row. For the least of the scholars in the rows was greater than the greatest of the congregation.]

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