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Haw Mediation Works 19 The last component of the definition refers to mediation as a voluntary process. Voluntary refers to freely chosen par- ticipation and freely chosen settlement. Parties are not forced to negotiate, mediate, or settle by either an internal or external party to a dispute. Stulberg (1981b, pp. 88-89) notes that "there is no legal liability to any party refusing to participate in a mediation process.... Since a mediator has no authority uni- laterally to impose a decision on the parties, he cannot threaten the recalcitrant party with a judgement." Voluntary participation does not, however, mean that there may not be pressure to try mediation. Other disputants or external forces, such as judges or constituents, may put signifi- cant pressure on a party to try negotiation and mediation. Some courts in family and civil cases have even gone so far as to order that parties try mediation as a means of resolving their dispute before the court hears the case, Attempting mediation does not, however, mean that the participants are forced to settle. Arenas of Mediation Mediation has a long history. The Bible refers to Jesus as a mediator between God and man: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself as ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (I Timothy 2:5-6). Churches and clergy have often been media- tors between their members or other disputants. Until the Renaissance, the Catholic church in Western Europe was prob- ably the central mediation and conflict management organiza- tion in Western society. Clergy mediated family disputes, crim- inal cases, and diplomatic disputes among the nobility. Bianchi (1978), in describing one mediated case in the Middle Ages, de= tails how the church and the clergy provided the sanctuary where the offender stayed during dispute resolution and served as intermediary between two families in a case involving rape. The families agreed to settle with monetary restitution to the woman's family and promises to help her find a husband. Jewish rabbinical courts and rabbis in Europe were vital in mediating or adjudicating disputes among members of that