Q: What is the source and rationale of the prohibition to adjudicate in civil court?

A: Parashas Mishpatim begins: “These are the laws that you should place before them” (Shemos 21:1). The Gemara interprets this to mean: “before them [=qualified Dayanim]; not before gentiles” (Gittin 88b).

The Rambam (Hil. Sanhedrin 26:7) and Shulchan Aruch are emphatic on this issue: “Anyone who adjudicates before gentile judges and in their courts, even if their laws are the same as Jewish law, is wicked; it is like he blasphemed and rebelled against Moshe’s Torah” (C.M. 26:1).

Among the explanations is that judicial systems express authority. Accepting a secular authority over the Divine one is a desecration of Hashem’s Name, even if a particular law happens to be identical. Furthermore, each judicial system draws from the philosophical underpinnings of its origin. Thus, civil law draws from philosophical bases that are often at odds with the Divine, fundamental principles espoused and advocated by Jewish law.