>I wonder if most people (outside of the Jewish faith) are even aware of the Beth Din...

I doubt it. In fact, I doubt most Jews are aware of it either. I'll guess that most who are know of it because of its role in conversion. New converts have to appear before a Beth Din (or, as I'd spell it, Bet Din--it's pronounced "bait dean") and answer questions that prove their knowledge and sincerity before the conversion can be made official.

FWIW, my understanding of not just the Bet Din, but Jewish law in general, is that local law prevails. So a Beth Din can't make a ruling that's in violation of the prevailing law of the country where the Bet Din operates.

I'm not going to take half an hour to listen to this now, but I suspect it would be fairly enlightening: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19147891

Tamar