The Seventh Law of Bene Noah is a positive commandment: to appoint judges and officers of the law.
This is the language of Maimonides on this matter.
How should the descendants of Noah fulfill the mandate to establish courts of justice? They are obliged to appoint judges and magistrates in each major city, to judge according to the aforementioned six laws and to warn people about their compliance. If a Ben Noah breaks one of these laws he is sentenced with capital punishment … And this is the reason why the inhabitants of Shekhem deserved death penalty … because when Hamor kidnapped [Dina the daughter of Ya’aqob ] the inhabitants of the city witnessed this and knew what Hamor had done, but they did not judge him [and thus, they became accomplices of this crime]… Ben Noah can be found guilty based on the testimony of a single witness. And the verdict [even if it is the capital sentence can be issued] by a single judge. There is no requirement for prior warning in order to be found guilty …
Maimonides, Hilkhot Melakhim 9:14
There are some important differences between the Mosaic Law and the Noahic Law in this field In the Noahic law, theft, for example, carries the maximum penalty. In the Mosaic Law, capital punishment for theft is reserved for extreme cases such as kidnapping or human trafficking. In Mosaic law, two witnesses are needed to sentence the guilty party. The witnesses cannot be relatives, etc.
As the reader can see Noahic law is stricter. The fact that a person accused of a crime could be executed by the testimony of a single witness or a relative is a good example of the harsher nature of this law.
All of these stringencies in Noahic law are consistent with the idea that we have expressed previously. That the great numerical difference of laws (Mosaic 613 vs. Noahic 7) is somehow compensated with an aggravated punishment for each one of them, i.e., capital punishment.
Let’s see some examples of the details of the law that requires the establishment of legal courts.
In Noahic law, the judge must treat the litigants with equality and objectivity.
The judge must diligently investigate the testimony of the witnesses.
The judge cannot accept a bribe or a gift from a litigant.
The judge cannot show gestures of honor towards one of the litigants.
The judge cannot act or judge for fear of the threat of one of the litigants.
The judge also cannot unfairly judge one of the litigants with favoritism, even out of pity or compassion.
The judge cannot discriminate against a litigant because in the past he was a sinner, etc.
The judge cannot hear a litigant in the absence of the other.
The judge cannot sentence an individual based on circumstantial evidence.
The court cannot assign a judge who lacks the knowledge of the law.
The court has to punish the individual who takes the law into his or her own hands.
All these laws are identical in Jewish law except in the type of sentence that applies to the criminal or sinner.
