Matthew Poole and continuators on John 18:31

31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law . The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death .

I will judge no man before my self first hear, and judge of his crime; you have a Law amongst your selves, and a liberty to question and judge men upon it, proceed against him according to your Law.

They reply, It was not lawful for them to put any man to death: We are assured by such as are exercised in the Iewish Writings, That the power of putting any to death, was taken away from the Jews forty years before the D[illegible: 1 letter]struction of Jerusalem. Some say, it was not taken away by the Romans, but by their own Court: They thought it so horrid a thing to put an Israelite to death, that wickedness of all sorts grew to such an heighth amongst them, through the impunity, or too light punishment of Criminals, that their Courts durst nor execute their just Authority. And at last their great Court determined against the putting any to death; nor (as they say) was any put to death by the Iews, but in some popular Tumult, after their Court had prejudiced the person by pronouncing him guilty of Blasphemy, or some capital Crime: which seemeth the case of Stephen, Acts 7.