When, after the destruction of the Temple, it became necessary, through the removal of R. Gamaliel II from the office of patriarch, to decide religious questions by the will of the majority, there was produced, as the groundwork of the treatise Eduyot, a collection of unassailable traditions.
Even the names of the sages responsible for the halakhot provide but a loose thread of union.
Following is a synopsis of the longer portions of the treatise: The space in this tractate allotted to each of the teachers is in proportion to his importance; and the frequent occurrence of Akiva's name is justified by the great conciliatory part which he took in the disputes of the time.
5-10) advising a wise and moderate limitation of individual opinions where certainty is lacking in cases of dispute.
Tosefta 3:2,3 (= Mishnah 8:5) gives laws of purification which have reference to the position of Jerusalem after the destruction.