1449
SEVENTH AMENDMENT
CIVIL TRIALS
CONTENTS
Page
Trial by Jury in Civil Cases ......................................................................................................
1451
The Right and the Characteristics of the Civil Jury .......................................................
1451
History ..........................................................................................................................
1451
Composition and Functions of Civil Jury ..................................................................
1452
Courts in Which the Guarantee Applies ...................................................................
1453
Waiver of the Right .....................................................................................................
1453
Application of the Amendment ..........................................................................................
1454
Cases ‘‘at Common Law’’ .............................................................................................
1454
The Continuing Law-Equity Distinction ...................................................................
1457
Procedures Limiting Jury’s Role ................................................................................
1460
Directed Verdicts .........................................................................................................
1461
Jury Trial Under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act ...........................................
1462
Appeals from State Courts to the Supreme Court ...........................................................
1464
1451
1 2 M. FARRAND, RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 1787, at 587 (rev.
ed. 1937).
2 Id. at 628.
3 J. STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 1757
(1833). ‘‘[I]t is a most important and valuable amendment; and places upon the high
ground of constitutional right the inestimable privilege of a trial by jury in civil
cases, a privilege scarcely inferior to that in criminal cases, which is conceded by
all to be esse