THE RABBI AS ARBITER

relatives or[otherwise] invalid[to serve as judges]. But if they are valid[judges] or experts recognized by a court he does not have the power to invalidate them."

The above dispute may seem trivial but in fact concerns a major conceptual difference between Meir and the sages over the nature of the arbitration panel. The point around which the dispute revolves becomes clear in light of the discussion presented in the Yerushalmi. The question is asked as to why Meir asserts that each litigant has the right to choose one of the judges. The answer, given in the name of R. Zira, is that“since the litigant chooses the judge, he takes for granted that his choice will seek cause in his own behalf.” Meir's idea, then, is that the judges are not so much meant to serve as a fact finding board as a panel of advocates. This view of law is much more familiar to us from the Anglo-American tradition, where, let us say, judges on the Supreme Court are simply assumed to hold certain positions and the appointment of one is a matter of public politics. The sages reject this theory, holding instead that the members of the panel are in fact like regular court judges; that is, neutral observers open only to the facts of the case. For this reason, a nominee may be excluded from serving on the arbitration panel only if he has a personal interest in the outcome, the same criterion that enters into the acceptance of witnesses. In other words, once a judge is deemed impartial he cannot be challenged on grounds of personal politics. What is also interesting in the case of an arbitration panel is that there is no requirement that the nominee be a recognized scholar. Any disinterested party may be nominated. I will return to the implications of this.

Although some of the rules of the formal beit din apply to the arbitration panel, it is also clear that the decision reached in arbitration need not be in conformity with the strict requirements of halakhah in order to be deemed valid. This is, I believe, of major significance. The arbitration panel is free to do as it deems

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