Secret Court Which Deals Justice to Jews

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 606, 7 March 1929, Page 13

Secret Court Which Deals Justice to Jews

Religions A tmosplicrc Has Strong Influence WORKINGS OF “BETH-DIN” There is a court In London which sits five days a week and gets through an enormous amount of work, but of which the great majority of Londoners have never heard. It is the Betli-Din. or Jewish “House of Judgment,” in Mulberry Street, E., and is officially designated the Chief Rabbi’s Court. It is a remarkable court, states the “Sunday Dispatch.” No fees are taken. Its proceedings are secret.

The bench consists of five Dayans or judges, of whom at least three attend each session. They are Dr. Hertz, the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Feldman and Rabbis Hillman, Lazarus and Mendelssohn.

For its judicial powers the court relies oil the Arbitration Act. The two parties to an action sign a document agreeing to abide by the decision of the Beth-Din, whatever it may be.

The cases dealt with are similar to those of the magistrates’ county courts. On the application of a plaintiff a summons is issued to the defendant and no ex parte statement is allowed at the time of complaint. No hearing takes place in the absence of either party. The evidence of certain classes of persons is forbidden. They include:

Gamblers, usurers, thieves, robbers, persons of obnoxious or indecent conduct, and butchers who do not conform to Jewish rules though pretend ing to do so.

Wide Scope of Activity

The judges are enjoined not to act as advocates but to aid both sides in presenting their case. Among the classes of cases which come before them are: Cases affecting husband and wife, parents and children, and cases of petty slander, vulgar abuse, and common assault. Magistrates of English courts often advise Jews to resort to tlie Beth-Din, where the religious atmosphere and tlie desire not to discredit the Jewish community is often more effective in bringing about reconciliation than any ordinary court could be. Cases between synagogues and officials, master and workman, landlord and tenant, inheritance, and breach of promise, threatened or actual. In the latter cases reconciliations are often effected, undue interference by parents being often the chief cause of trouble. In matrimonial cases, claims for marriage brokerage are frequent. In English courts such claims do not lie, but Jewish parents are so anxious to see their children settled early in life that they are willing to use the services of a broker to bring about a marriage.

The court accordingly has sometimes to decide the amount of time and labour expended by the broker in bringing about the match, and it has laid down certain rules as to dues. Questions of divorce often occupy the court. Jewish marriage is twofold —civil and religious—and both ceremonies are usually performed at the same time. There are certain marriages, however, which are permitted in civil law, but not in religious law.

In cases of missing husbands, death is not presumed—it must be proved. Infinite trouble is taken by the court to secure such proof, and regular correspondence is carried on with Jewish organisations in other countries.

Civil divorce must be followed by a special religious act before a Jewish bill of divorcement is granted. For this bill the husband’s instructions are required, and if lie declines to give them, as he sometimes does, religious remarriage is impossible for the wife. Though she may be divorced in civil law, lier union with another man would be regarded as adulterous and her children as illegitimate. Part of the work of the court consists in inducing recalcitrant husbands to give their innocent wives full freedom. Of 181 cases in the last three years fa.lure has resulted in only two or three cases. The court also acts as a general advice bureau, dealing with thousands of cases a year. When a privileged visitor is allowed in the Beth-Din, lie is immediately impressed with the dignified mien of the judges, in their black judicial robes. His first instinct is probably to remove his hat, but he is immediately told to keep it on. Last year the court dealt with 1,162 ecclesiastical cases alone, so it is all the more remarkable that its activities are so little known—eveu among Jews.