Bible Students didn't have judicial meetings like JW's do. They did practice Matthew 18:15-17.
So if I had a problem with you and we couldn't resolve it, then I would bring a third party to mediate, if you still didn't listen, then the congregation got involved. Then there was a hearing, where everything was laid out, and the congregation would decide.
The Society interprets "bring it to the congregation" to mean "bring it to the elders", but the actual Greek means congregation.
RR