John 18:31

Take ye him. Pilate takes the Jews at their word. They had implied that their judgment ought to be sufficient.

To death. The right to execute capital punishment is generally believed to have been taken away from Jewish courts about the time Judea became a province, in A.D. 6, or soon thereafter. According to Josephus, “The territory of Archelaus was now reduced to a province, and Coponius, a Roman of the equestrian order, was sent out as procurator, entrusted by Augustus with full powers, including the infliction of capital punishment” (War ii. 8. 1 [117]; Loeb ed., vol. 2, p. 367). In other matters the courts had full jurisdiction. In matters relating to capital punishment they could pass sentence, but ratification by the Roman procurator was required. That this provision was not always followed seems evident by such instances as the killing of Stephen (Acts 7), and of James, John’s brother (Acts 12:2), at least as reported by Josephus (Antiquities xx. 9. 1).