RR: Twenty dollars!!!!
Rich Martin
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 reexamined in any court of the United States , than according to the rules of the common law.
The 7th is another single long run on sentence making just 2 related points.
1. All civil cases of $20 or more shall be decided by a JURY, not a judge in Small Claims Court , and 2. Any appeal must follow the rules in common law, meaning, the jury award cannot be increased, just decreased as exessive. As to the first point, $20 in today's world is pitifully small, but it remains the law of the land until amended. You may even think if is irrelevant and obsolete and can be ignored. But how can the first clause of the 7th be ignored and the last clause be enforced?
Point 2. We witnessed a great example of how important it is to know the Constitution. A few decades ago, the fledgling American Football League sued the venerable NFL for damages and won, but the jurors could not agree on how much the NFL should pay. The range of compensation was great, in the millions of dollars. Feeling hung up, they “punted”. In a “compromise”, the jury panel decided to set the award at $1.00 and let the judge set a fair amount. Unfortunately, under common law, the judge only has authority to reduce the award, not increase it. The AFL recd treble damages, $3.00, and the rest is history. A terrible misjustice resulted due to their ignorance of the Bill of Rights. Had the jury knew the bill of Rights as all citizens should, they would have set the award at the high end, say forty billion dollars, and let the judge reduce it to a reasonable amount.
To be cont’d tomorrow.
Rich Martin Other former Bill of Rights 1 to 6
1st http://groups.google.com/group/richsrants/browse_thread/thread/2e8e52bbe7cf30b1 |