PETER HAAS
15. One example of this is found in Majer Balaban ,*Die Krakower Judengemeinde Ordnung von 1595 und ihre Nachtraege” in JJLG, Vol. X, 1912, pp. 333-334. The passage is in Yiddish and stipulates that*when the litigants appoint arbiters(nehmn bor'rim), the arbiters must sit within twenty-four hours(miet laet) do oi must make and end of matters within 3 days....”
16. Elon . op. cit., p. 299, cites one salient exception allowed by M. M. Krochmal in the seventeenth century.
17. Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 8.1.
18. Salo Baron argues that there was even encouragement for lay participation. See his A Social and Religious History of the Jews, New York , 1952, Vol II, p. 267.
19. A fuller discussion is in Menahem Elon 's Introduction to The Principles of Jewish Law, Jerusalem , 1975, pp. 21f. The rules of the Krakow community mentioned in the precedin note did place some restrictions on who could be appointed to such a court. In particular it banned community leaders. Baron , op. cit., p. 334.