Note 8 — Chapter III · Recall of Judges.
Reading edition
John’s “The Oldest Code of Laws in the World,” p. 2; Code of Hammurabi, sec. 5; John’s “Babylonian and Assyrian Laws,” p. 44.
A notable case of the recall of judges as late as five hundred years before Christ occurred among the Medes and Persians, who boasted of their unalterable decrees, once rendered by the incumbent of the dangerous judgment-seat.
Herodotus tells the thrilling story of the striking example furnished by King Cambyses, in his final recall of the unjust judge, named Sisamnes. He caused him to be killed and flayed and the judgment-seat to be covered with his skin. He then appointed the son of Sisamnes to be his successor, but charged him, while sitting in judgment, to remember the fate of his father. This example might be resorted to by the agitators for the judicial recall, as a more terrible example to an unjust judge than the mere recall and degradation.