Parashat Shoftim - A Case for Rabbinic Authority

If a case is too baffling for you to decide … you shall appear before the levitical priests, or the magistrate in charge at the time, … You shall act in accordance with the instructions given you and the ruling handed down to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left (Deut. 17:8-11).