Chapter I: The Term “Judicial Laws,” § 29.
CHAPTER I: THE TERM “JUDICIAL LAWS”
§ 29. Let this be enough about the ceremonial laws. The judicial laws (
, τίκρίματα [“judgments”]) were political ordinances, so called because they were the norm of judgments in the political forum. Luther translates them as Rechte, which is to say, “civil laws” [jura civilia] or “forensic laws” [leges forenses]. It seems that 2 Chron. 34:31 calls them 
(“testimonies”) because in that passage commandments, statutes, and testimonies—that is, the moral, ceremonial, and forensic laws—are connected, seeing as these, no less than the others, were testimonies of God’s will as to how the Israelites’ state was to be established and their judgments exercised. In Exod. 15:25 and Deut. 4:5 they are called κρίσεις [“judgments”], for they were the norm and North Star of judgments. In Exod. 21:1; Num. 36:13; etc., they are called δικαιώματα because they were the rules for civil righteousness. They are described in this way because they are precepts given by the authority of God through Moses concerning the external maintenance of discipline according to the entire Decalogue. Furthermore, the forensic laws were specifications of the general commandments of the Decalogue for a specific kind of external actions by which to govern most aptly the civic life of the Israelites.