Brushfire of Freedom
The Armory
Note: Originally published on June 16th, 2009 at Brushfire Sparks.
“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.”
Lucky Seven in our review is a little out of the ordinary. It does not deal with criminal issues brought before the court, but rather matters that find their way into the civil litigation process. In other words, lawsuits. However, when you remember that the purpose behind the Bill of Rights is to protect the rights of Americans from an oppressive government, and that there are several other amendments that ensure the sanctity of private property, then maybe number seven is not as unusual as some believe.
The fifth and sixth amendments deal with judicial matters from a criminal perspective. The Founders rafted the seventh to ensure that no individual could be forced to surrender their property in a civil matter. They feared that the courts might be used as a tool to control private property, and they did not want the civil courts to be a “loop hole” for the government. Without the seventh, the government could simply state that the matter was civil, there is no need for a jury, no need to file charges, no defense, no anything. They could then set up a mock-court and have a judge decide in favor of the state. This concept seems ridiculous and foreign to most Americans, but the reason it does is because of the seventh amendment.
The limit was set at twenty dollars because of the currency at the time. The largest single coin back in the late 1700’s was the twenty-dollar gold piece. Twenty dollars was a significant amount of money at the time, so the Founders were not trying to create a deeply penetrating bureaucracy that would choke the government and the courts with a flood of civil matters. However, the goal was to protect the people, so the limit was set to ensure that individuals with at least a general livelihood would not become targets of a greedy, over-reaching government. This twenty-dollar limit is not as significant in today’s world, which is why you will find the limit is now around $400 in many small claims courts in the US today. The $20 gold piece of yesteryear is worth about $400 dollars today, if you exclude the value collectors might apply.
The seventh ensures that a jury will hear your civil suit. If you neighbor takes you to court over the location of a fence line, and the value of the property and fence is over $400 or so, there will be a jury to hear the case and decide the verdict. The judge can instruct the jury, and in rare cases “set aside” the verdict of the jury, but the final verdict in all cases greater than the specified value will be decided by a jury.
As with other rights of the people, those in government have found a way to turn their power against those they were meant to protect. Raising the value of a civil matter above the specified levels allows lawyers to require juries. Jury rials are expensive, so they convince the defense to settle for a fee, collect their money, pay the client, and enjoy a paycheck for no real work. They can do this because a person who brings a case to the court is not required to pay any fees, even if they lose the case. These lawyers have turned the civil courts into a cash cow, where multi-million dollar judgements for spilled coffee are often too frequently handed down by the jury. It is an abuse of a system designed to protect the people, and it is in desperate need of reform.
The seventh is necessary because power corrupts and the Founders did everything they could to ensure all loop holes were closed so as to protect the people. It ensures our right to a jury trial no matter the nature of the charges. It helps protect our private property, our personal wealth, and our way of life. It’s abuse is just another in a long line of abuses of the people’s rights by those who have no respect for the ideals of our founders. If you are ever required to appear in a civil court, you will know immediately the value of the damages, just look to the jury.
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