The gemara says that either 3 regular people or a mumcheh l'rabim can judge and impose their ruling on the litigants. Both R. Nachman and R. Chiya considered themselves worthy of judging alone. However, the gemara questions the criteria for judging alone. Is it sufficient to just be "gamir v'savir", or must one also get permission from the reish galusa. The gemara concludes that one can serve as an individual judge without permission from the reish galusa, but the permission helps to exempt the judge if he messes up in his ruling.
It is not clear from the gemara what the status is when one has permission from the reish galusa, but no other qualifications. The Rambam (recorded by Nimukei Yosef) writes in Hilchos Sanhedrin (perek 4) that one who is not fit to judge because he doesn't know, even if he is appointed by the reish galusa or even if he appointed by a beis din, the permission he is given is worthless. The Rambam compares this to one who sanctifies an animal with a mum as a korban, obviously this type of sanctification is completely disregarded. This doesn't seem to fit with the Rosh (2) who writes that the statement of Rav and Shmuel that one who wants to be exempt from mess ups should seek permission from the reish galusa, implies that even an individual who is not a mumche (expert - r. sharira goan in a teshuva quoted by rosh and nimukei yosef seem to understand that it is a language of experience - ועיקר לשון מומחה - מנוסה כדתניא יוצאין בקביע מומחה ומפרש בגמ' היינו דאיתמחי קמיע). The Shulchan Aruch (c.m. 3:4) quotes the Rambam that permission without being gamir v'savir doesn't help. The Rama writes that permission from a secular government nowadays doesn't even help for anyone, unless the k'hal accepts them. But then the Rama quotes those who say that if he is gamir v'savir, the permission of the non-jewish government will help even nowadays because that is included in their mitzvah of dinim to set up courts and judge.
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