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 Seventh Amendment clause prohibiting re-examination of any fact found by a jury is not restricted in its application to suits at common law tried before juries in federal courts. It applies equally to cases tried before a jury in a state court and brought to the Supreme Court on appeal.1 However, the Supreme Court has indicated that, in cases involving a claim of a denial of constitutional rights, it is free to examine and review the evidence upon which the lower court based its conclusions, a position that under some circumstances could conflict with the principle of jury autonomy.2
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Footnotes
- 1
- The Justices v. Murray, 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) 274, 278 (1870); Chi., B. & Q. R.R. v. Chicago, 166 U.S. 226, 242–46 (1897).
- 2
- See Time, Inc. v. Pape, 401 U.S. 279, 284–92 (1971).