Deuteronomy 16:18

UPRIGHT judges and efficient administrators you shall appoint in all your cities which the Lord your God will give you for your tribes, and they shall judge the people with true judgment.

Even though every individual commandment stands on its own, nevertheless conjecture may be offered concerned their ordering and juxtaposition. Accordingly, the reason for now bringing in the passage on Judges may be: Although you go three times a year to see the Kohanim who serve in the Sanctuary, there to ask them questions about our statutes and laws, you still do not fulfill your duty unless you have judges in each of your city gates.

officers denotes the authorities, from “overseer, or ruler” [Proverbs 6: 7], and “its dominion in the earth” [Job 38: 33]. The judge dispenses justice, whereas the officer enforces it.

in each of our city gates exactly as Jehosophat did [II Chronicles 19: 5].

in your tribes that is, in the gates of each tribe.

they (i.e., the “judges”) must judge.

JUDGES ‘V’SHOTRIM’ SHALT THOU MAKE THEE IN ALL THY GATES WHICH THE ETERNAL THY G-D GIVETH THEE. He has commanded in the Torah, the word of both parties shall come before ha’elohim (the judges); indicates that “the judges” had received ordination. and he shall pay as the judges determine., 21:22. If so, He commanded [by implication] that Israel is to have judges, and here he [Moses] explained that they are to appoint judges in all their cities when G-d will give them the Land. For outside of the Land they are not required to appoint a court for themselves; rather, when an aggrieved party complains, people qualified to judge are to arise for him and according to their ordinances shall they judge it. Or the parties are to go up to the Land in the proper time [i.e., when there are courts of ordained judges functioning in the Land of Israel], and there, they will adjudicate it in the place of righteousness. He added here [that it is obligatory to appoint] shotrim, who are the ones that execute the judgment.
Accordingly, Israelites living outside of the Land are not commanded to appoint for themselves judges in the cities. And so wrote Harav Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon. 1:2. But in Tractate Makkoth the Rabbis have taught: “And these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. This teaches that the laws of Sanhedrin are binding both within and without the Land. If so, why is it stated Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates? In the Land you are to appoint [judges] in every district and in every city; outside the Land you are to appoint [judges] in every district, but you are not obligated to do so in every city.” From this text it would appear that we are required to appoint a Sanhedrin outside the Land — not in every city as in the Land of Israel, but in every district. If so, this commandment is binding at all times in civil cases and in matters that may be adjudicated outside the Land. Nowadays, however, that ordination has ceased, Sages in the Land of Israel would agree to reinstitute ordination, they are empowered to do so (Mishneh Torah, Shoftim, Hilchoth Sanhedrin 4:11). Such an attempt was made by Rabbi Yaakov Beirav of Safed in the middle of the sixteenth century in the days of Rabbi Yoseph Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch. The attempt failed for various reasons, one of them being that Rambam concluded his statement with the equivocal phrase “and the matter needs yet a final decision.” since, according to Torah-law, all judicial functions are void — for it is written, “[And these are the ordinances which thou shalt set] before them, and not before commoners ” and we [not being ordained,] are commoners, and would not be empowered to adjudicate outside the Land except for the Rabbinical ordinance that we “carry out the commission of the former ones [who had received ordination]” (marriage contract), inheritance, damages, etc. But matters not of common occurrence [such as one animal damaging another] or not involving a monetary loss [such as the additional amount levied as a fine upon returning stolen goods] are not enforceable. See Choshen Mishpat, I, for further clarification of this principle. — we are not at all bound, according to Torah-law, by the commandment to appoint judges.

ושוטרים, the judges issue orders to the enforcers (Shotrim) to see that recalcitrant convicted persons will obey the judgments handed down by the judges.

שופטים ושוטרים, after Moses had addressed a number of commandments to the people at large, he now turned to instruct the leaders of the people in commandments of special concern for them. By paying especial attention to observing these laws, the leaders, especially the judges, kings and prophets, would be able to maintain the spiritual level of the people at large, and thus ensure the people’s continued tenure of the Land of Israel. In the words of the prophet: “when the lion roars who does not tremble?” (Amos 3,8) Tzefaniah phrased it somewhat differently, providing degrees of reactions to people in varying degrees of authority. (Tzefaniah 3,3 describes the princes, leading authorities as being feared like roaring lions, whereas the judges who have no executive powers are feared in the manner one is afraid of wolves.)

נותן לך לשבטיך, in the gates (cities) He is about to give to you. You are to divide the judges to districts, i.e. each of your cities must have a judiciary. This restriction does not apply to land conquered outside the traditional boundaries of Israel; there, seeing the land was not divided into tribal parcels, the judiciary appointed also did not have to adhere to this pattern. Examples of such regions were Syria, etc.

משפט צדק, the manner in which the complaints of the litigants were heard should be such that the resulting decisions could be expected to be fair, צדק, righteous. The judges were not to discriminate in their treatment of either of the opposing litigants.

שופטים ושוטרים, “Judges and officials to execute the judgments;” shoftim are the judges who do the legal work, shotrim are the officials who see to it that the judgments handed down are executed. (Compare Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin folio 16). In Samuel II 8,15-16 we find a practical illustration of this system when the prophet records: “David ruled over all Israel, and David executed true justice among all his people. Yoav, son of Zeruiah was commander of the army;” the paragraph lists additional civil servants and their respective assignments.” The reason why these details are recorded there is to show that there were separate departments for the legal problems and for executing judgments once they had been formulated.