Chapter 31: The Parties in Cases of Process

31-1. Original jurisdiction (the right first or initially to hear and determine)
in relation to ministers of the Gospel shall be in the Presbytery of which the
minister is a member, except in cases as provided in BCO 34-1. Such original
jurisdiction in relation to church members shall be in the Session of the church
of which he/she is a member, except in cases as provided in BCO 33-1.

31-2. It is the duty of all church Sessions and Presbyteries to exercise care
over those subject to their authority. They shall with due diligence and great
discretion demand from such persons satisfactory explanations concerning
reports affecting their Christian character. This duty is more imperative when
those who deem themselves aggrieved by injurious reports shall ask an
investigation.
If such investigation, however originating, should result in raising a
strong presumption of the guilt of the party involved, the court shall institute
process, and shall appoint a prosecutor to prepare the indictment and to
conduct the case. This prosecutor shall be a member of the court, except that
in a case before the Session, he may be any communing member of the same
congregation with the accused.

31-3. The original and only parties in a case of process are the accuser and
the accused. The accuser is always the Presbyterian Church in America, whose
honor and purity are to be maintained. The prosecutor, whether voluntary or
appointed, is always the representative of the Church, and as such has all its
rights in the case. In appellate courts the parties are known as appellant and
appellee.

31-4. Every indictment shall begin: “In the name of the Presbyterian
Church in America,” and shall conclude, “against the peace, unity and
purity of the Church, and the honor and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the King and Head thereof.” In every case the Church is the injured and
accusing party, against the accused.

31-5. An injured party shall not become a prosecutor of personal offenses
without having tried the means of reconciliation and of reclaiming the
offender, required by Christ.
“Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that
in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established”
(Matthew 18:15-16).
A church court, however, may judicially investigate personal offenses
as if general when the interest of religion seem to demand it. So, also, those to
whom private offenses are known cannot become prosecutors without having
previously endeavored to remove the scandal by private means.

31-6. When the offense is general, the case may be conducted either by any
person appearing as prosecutor or by a prosecutor appointed by the court.

31-7. When the prosecution is instituted by the court, the previous steps
required by our Lord in the case of personal offenses are not necessary. There
are many cases, however, in which it will promote the interests of religion to
send a committee to converse in a private manner with the offender, and
endeavor to bring him to a sense of his guilt, before instituting actual process.

31-8. Great caution ought to be exercised in receiving accusations from any
person who is known to indulge a malignant spirit towards the accused; who
is not of good character; who is himself under censure or process; who is
deeply interested in any respect in the conviction of the accused; or who is
known to be litigious, rash or highly imprudent.

31-9. Every voluntary prosecutor shall be previously warned, that if he fail
to show probable cause of the charges, he may himself be censured as a
slanderer of the brethren.

31-10. When a member of a church court is under process, all his official
functions may be suspended at the court’s discretion; but this shall never be
done in the way of censure, and this requires a two-thirds (2/3) majority.