Abstract

The judgeship is one of the oldest professions in history. In the Hebrews, which is a divinely based legal system, judgeship arised and practiced both by the Torah and later by the contributions of jurists. In the Torah, which is the main source of Hebrew law, it is mentioned that the other prophets and Moses were authorized both as rulers and judges. Moreover, judges are ordered to make fair judgments on the basis of protecting the weak and prohibited of bribery. We see that there are similar or even the same provisions in Islamic law. In Islamic law, it is seen that both the previous prophets and the last prophet Muhammad have the powers as prophet, ruler and judge. Moreover, in the Qur'an, judges are ordered to make judgments fairly, avoid bribery and without favoring any litigants. In this study, the rules of ancient Hebrew law and the Islamic law will be compared. Since the subject is limited to judges and courts, first the status and appointment of judges will be explained, then the courts and the trial procedure will be compared, and afterwards the responsibilities of judges and the qualifications required to be appointed as a judge will be discussed. In this respect, the rules in Hebrew law will be compared with Islamic law only in the light of the information given, and the more detailed rules in Islamic law will not be cited because they don’t have equivalents in Hebrew law.