What the Jury Must Hear: The Supreme Court's Evolving Seventh Amendment Jurisprudence
75 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 2008
Abstract
This Article examines the Supreme Court's evolving Seventh Amendment jurisprudence by focusing on the four strands that have emerged primarily in the twentieth century: first, the historical test of the right to a jury trial, based upon whether the action could have been brought in a court of law in 1791, the time of the Seventh Amendment's ratification; second, the preservation of the "substance" of the jury trial right, as opposed to mere matters of pleading and practice; third, the preservation of the jury right after law and equity courts were merged in 1938; and fourth, the creation of an exception to the Seventh Amendment guarantee for matters which Congress has delegated for decision to non-Article III courts and administrative agencies.
Part I of this Article describes the background of the Seventh Amendment, including the emergence of the historical test for the right to a jury trial. This historical background sets the stage for the discussion in Part II of the four strands of twentieth-century Seventh Amendment jurisprudence. Part III then outlines the Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. decision and compares it with the four strands of Seventh Amendment jurisprudence. Part IV concludes that Markman should have little impact upon the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial outside the area of patent law. Part V discusses the continuing evolution of Seventh Amendment jurisprudence in three post-Markman decisions: Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chemical Co., Feltner v. Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. and City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes.
Keywords: seventh amendment, right to jury trial
JEL Classification: K40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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