The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 32 : General Provisions Applicable to all Cases of Process

Paragraph 16 : On the Right of Challenge

32-16. Either party may, for cause, challenge the right of any member to sit in the trial of the case, which question shall be decided by the other members of the court.

DIGEST : The current PCA text was changed from that of PCA 1973 in _____, the final clause being shortened but still speaking to the same effect. The provision afforded by this paragraph was not part of the PCUS drafts of 1867 and 1869.

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
1. PCA 1973, RoD, 6-16, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 148
2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, RoD, 6-16, Proposed text, p. 45
3. PCUS 1933, VI-§208
4. PCUS 1925, VI-§208
Either party may, for cause, challenge the right of any member to sit in the trial of the case, which question shall be decided by the members of the court other than the one challenged.

PCUS 1879, Rules of Discipline, VI-16

Either party may, for cause, challenge the right of any member to sit in the trial of the case, which question shall be decided by the members of the court, other than the one challenged.

PCUS 1869 draft, Canons of Discipline, VI-17
and

PCUS 1867 draft, Canons of Discipline, VI-17
[no comparable text]

COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, p. 205), on RoD, VI-16:

187.--XVI. Either party may, for cause, challenge the right of any member to sit in the trial of the case, which question shall be decided by the members of the court, other than the one challenged.
Only one member can be challenged at a time, for otherwise a party could sift the court to suit himself. The right of the challenged member to sit must be determined before anything else is done in the trial. No challenge of a member's right to sit should be entertained after the reading of the indictment to the accused, unless for cause not known before that time to the challenging party.