The Seventh Amendment

The Seventh Amendment, ratified in 1791, reads: "In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law." The provision applies only in federal court. Unlike most of the Bill of Rights, the Seventh Amendment has not been incorporated against the states, though most state constitutions independently guarantee a civil jury right.

The twenty-dollar threshold has never been adjusted for inflation. In practice, every meaningful civil dispute clears it. The amendment's real work is qualitative. It guarantees that disputes at common law, the historical body of judge-made civil law concerning property, contracts, and torts, must be tried before a jury if either party demands one. Suits in equity, which historically sought relief other than money damages, are tried by the judge alone.

The Reexamination Clause is the less-noticed half of the amendment. It forbids federal courts from setting aside jury verdicts on the facts except according to the rules of the common law. A judge may grant a new trial if the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, but the judge may not simply substitute his own findings for the jury's. The amendment reflects the founders' confidence in ordinary citizens to resolve disputes about money and property as much as disputes about guilt and punishment. The civil jury was, in the eighteenth-century view, a fundamental safeguard against the power of judges and the influence of distant authority. That confidence has eroded somewhat in modern practice, as arbitration clauses, summary judgment, and settlement increasingly resolve civil disputes outside the courtroom. The amendment remains in force whenever a case actually reaches trial.