What is the Seventh Amendment?

My name is Suja Thomas and I'm a professor of law at

the University of Illinois, and I studied juries for about twenty years.

The US stands out as one of the few countries in the world where juries

decide civil disputes, and that is controversies over money.

But why did the US pick a jury to decide?

To understand, we have to go back and look at the origins of the jury.

The jury made its way to America during British colonization in the seventeenth century.

As tensions grew leading up to the American Revolution,

the jury became an asset to the colonists. In response to British oppression,

such as the prosecution of people for criticizing the government,

juries would nullify, and that is not follow the law.

In one case, the John Peter Zenger case,

John Peter Zenger published a piece that denounced the royal governor of New York.

Even though what he did was illegal,

the jury did not convict,

so juries actually protected the colonies.

The problem was, the British started diverting

cases away from juries to themselves to decide.

The colonies were very upset by this and other British aggressions.

In response, the colonists wrote a document noting their grievances against the king.

This Declaration of Independence explicitly stated

that the king deprived us in many cases of trial by jury.

After gaining independence, the founders set out to protect the right to a jury trial.

They set forth in the Constitution that the trial of all crimes,

except in cases of impeachment,

shall be by jury.

But there was a debate as to whether or not we should

protect the trial by jury in civil cases.

Many refused to sign unless there was a promise of

a future right to a jury trial in civil cases.

The resulting Bill of Rights included

the Seventh Amendment and secured the right to a jury trial in civil cases.

If you'd like to learn more about the jury in America today,

please visit wethepeoplewethejury.com.