Yosef Karo

“ Paragraph 5- A judge who accepts payment in order to judge has his rulings voided except for cases where we specifically know he did not accept payment. If he simply accepts payment for being idle, that is permissible so long as it is obvious to all, such as a case where he has known work to perform at that time and he tells the parties to give him the cost of that work that he is missing. ”

“ Paragraph 1- A judge must be exceedingly careful not to accept a bribe, even if it is to find for the meritorious party. If the judge has taken the bribe he must return it when the giver claims it from him. Just as the one who accepts the bribe violates a negative commandment, so too has the giver violated “lifeni iver lo siten michshol.” This does not only apply to a monetary bribe, but a verbal bribe as well. Any judge who has borrowed an item is disqualified from judging the lender. ”

“ Paragraph 6- A judge may not allow an ignorant student to sit in front of him so that the student does not involve himself in the give and take and distort the true law.
Paragraph 7- If a student is sitting in front of his Rabbi and sees a merit for the poor person where his Rabbi wants to find against the poor person, the student is obligated to speak up. If he is silent, he violates “midvar sheker tirchak.” ”