Chapter 10: Church Courts in General

10-1. The Church is governed by various courts, in regular gradation, which
are all, nevertheless, Presbyteries, as being composed exclusively of
presbyters.

10-2. These courts are church Sessions, Presbyteries, and the General
Assembly.

10-3. The pastor is, for prudential reasons, moderator of the Session. The
moderator of the Presbytery may be elected at each stated meeting of the court,
or for a period of time up to one year. The moderator of the General Assembly
shall be chosen at each stated meeting; he, or in case of his absence the last
moderator present or the oldest minister longest a member of the court, shall
open the next meeting with a sermon unless it is impracticable, and shall hold
the chair until a new moderator be chosen.
The moderator has all authority necessary for the preservation of order
and for the proper and expeditious conduct of all business before the court, and
for convening and adjourning the court according to its own ruling. In any
emergency, he may by circular letter change the time or place, or both, of
meeting to which the court stands adjourned, giving reasonable notice thereof.

10-4. A clerk or clerks shall be elected by the Session, Presbytery, and
General Assembly to serve for a definite period as determined by the court.
It is the duty of the clerk, besides recording the transactions, to
preserve the records carefully, and to grant extracts from them whenever
properly required. Such extracts under the hand of the clerk shall be evidence
to any ecclesiastical court, and to every part of the Church.

10-5. Every meeting of the Session, Presbytery and General Assembly shall
be opened and closed with prayer, and in closing the final session a psalm or
hymn may be sung and the benediction pronounced.