*203.* _Trial, Testimony, Slander._—A church judgment, where there has been a full and fair trial or when members submit to the church tribunal, and the judgment has only been rebuke, censure, suspension, or excommunication, is usually upheld by the courts; and when the testimony given on such trial is concerning immoral or scandalous conduct or crime, if those taking part act in good faith and within the scope of the authority of the church, they are protected by law and not liable to an action for damages for libel or slander.(363) *204.* _Remedies, Secular Courts._—In cases involving church doctrine and discipline only, all remedies within the church must be exhausted by a member before the secular courts will interfere, if they will interfere at all.(364) *205.* _Notice, Waiver._—When the laws of the church provide the tribunal and procedure, if the person proceeded against avoids the service of the notice or refuses to submit to the court, the notice of trial required to be served might thereby be considered waived and the tribunal might proceed with the trial in the absence of the accused.(365) *206.* _Appeal, Decision, Limitation._—The right to appeal from one court to another of higher jurisdiction is generally recognized.(366) If after trial in the lower tribunal of the Church, an appeal is taken, the decision on the appeal is binding upon the parties and also upon the inferior tribunal.(367) In the Anglican and some other churches, there is no limitation as to time when offenses against the discipline of the church may be inquired into.(368) The Catholic Church has a limitation as to prescriptive rights, to-wit: “Three years in case of movable property; ten years in case of a right, or of immovable property, _inter praesentes_; twenty years in the same case, _inter absentes_.”(369) Also, there are limitations in canonical cases, varying from one to twenty years.(370) There is no statute of limitation on lawful debts. *207.* _Procedure, Judge, Juror, Witness._—If there are no rules of procedure prescribed by the church tribunal, the proper practice is to follow the State courts; as, for example, where the State law forbids an officer of the court who has an interest in the proceeding to sit as judge or juror, the same would apply to the church tribunal, it being the common law of the land. Also, in States where a person who is interested in a matter is not a competent witness, in the absence of a different rule in the church, the same rule would apply in the church tribunal.(371)