Constitution Seventh Amendment. Seventh Amendment The Seventh Amendment continues a practice from English common law of distinguishing civil claims which must be tried before a jury absent waiver by the parties from claims and issues that may be heard by a judge alone.
Judges have always understood that ordinary juries have difficulty understanding cases involving complicated facts and law. Juries must hear all evidence in a case at once and decide all issues at once, despite potential confusion, because it is not practical for jurors to keep coming back to court at different times. Furthermore, it is difficult to correct a jury verdict on appeal, because jurors give no official reasons for their decisions. The English common law developed various ways to try to cope with these shortcomings.
Cases that went to a jury generally concerned only two parties, one claim for money damages, and one or at most a few simple questions of fact. A judge could comment on the evidence in a case, to help the jury understand.
At common law, almost the only remedy for a jury making a mistake was to order a new trial. A new trial was time-consuming and expensive, because the case had to be tried all over again to a different jury, but at least it was some way to correct jury error. Obviously many disputes were more complicated and could not adequately be resolved this way.
English judges developed entire separate systems to handle more complicated disputes, with decisions not by juries but by judges. See John H. Equity was able to administer more complicated remedies like injunctions orders from a court to do something or not to do something , besides giving money damages. By the eighteenth century, judges in equity had to give written reasons for their decisions, and those decisions could be appealed.
The Seventh Amendment is based on the distinction between common law and equity. Civil jury trial has always been problematic, but changes have occurred since the late eighteenth century that make jury trial even more difficult and rarer.
Here are some of the most important:. Because states and the federal government have merged the systems of common law and equity, the old common-law restrictions on cases going to a jury are gone.
Now, juries can hear cases involving many parties, many claims, and complicated issues. Technology has grown more complex, and business transactions more intricate. Evidence is increasingly in written, numerical, or scientific form, which is often difficult for jurors to understand.
Judges have lost the power to comment on evidence to the jury, to help jurors understand the case. Even apart from disputes becoming more complicated, the adversarial system in the United States has slowed down jury trial.
Changes include: extensive procedures for selecting jurors such as questionnaires and in-person questioning, called voir dire ; elaborate rules of evidence; dueling expert witnesses; and long, complicated instructions to the jury on law. Jury trials are often a heavy burden to jurors, their families, and their employers. At common law, there were few ways for a party to get information about the case before trial. Trial was needed to find out what happened; surprise was a major problem.
After the merger of common law and equity, parties have many ways to get information before trial—all taken from equity. A judge now can decide before trial that a party does not have enough evidence to go to a jury, in a procedure called summary judgment. There was no summary judgment at common law, because there was no pretrial discovery.
In the eighteenth century, a judge did not know what evidence a party could produce at trial. Pretrial discovery changed that. Civil jury trial is nearly gone in the United States, and for good reason.
Promising reforms are developing in investigating and resolving civil disputes. These could be more thorough and effective without the remaining hindrance of the Seventh Amendment. Judges and law professors discuss problems facing the American criminal justice system, as well as the prospective reforms. Today we celebrate the anniversary of the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights ratified December 15, In this session, students learn about voting rights in America through a historical exploration of the right to vote in America.
Thanks to the 7th. Privacy Policy. Lesson Plans on the 7th Amendment. Justice by the People. Juries decide on less than one percent of civil cases that are filed in court. This number may seem low, but the U. Making the 7th Amendment applicable in federal courts. If you have a civil claim and are suing a person in court, you might not want a judge to be the sole decision maker for your case.
You have the right to have your trial heard by several more people who make up a jury.
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