1 Corinthians 6:6

6. Brother goeth to law By favour of the Roman government (see note on Acts 9:2) the Jews were permitted to establish courts of their own for the trial of cases between Jew and Jew. And by a law of the Jews it was unlawful for a Jew to arraign a Jew before a Gentile court. Christian courts were early established by the Church for settling disputes between Christians. Stanley quotes from the Apostolic Constitution, a document of the middle of the second century, a striking passage to this effect. The Christian rule, however, did not forbid the prosecuting of a heathen by a Christian before a heathen tribunal. A narrative is related of St. Julitta, who, having prosecuted a pagan for theft, withdrew her suit when required by the court, as a condition of a verdict, to renounce her Christian faith. When, at length, Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire, these courts gradually grew into powerful ecclesiastical courts, and became a stronghold of the popish hierarchy.