Amendment7Jury

//  "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"//
 * __Amendment 7: Trial By Jury In Civil Cases__**

__**//Background://**__ The Bill Of Rights, became the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Even though a large group of people took part in writing the constitution James Madison was largely responsible for adding it to the constitution. The Bill Of Rights took affect on December 15, 1791 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

__**//Analysis://** What does the 7th amendment mean?, why does it have to exceed 20 dollars?, and why is this amendment important?__ It means that in Civil cases (court cases not involving a crime such as auto theft) if the amount of money you're suing for exceeds $20 you have the right to a trial by jury. However, you have the option to choose to have just a judge hear the case and make a ruling. The writers of the constitution choose to make it be over 20 dollars because at that time the largest coin at that time was a twenty dollar gold piece. The seventh amendment is very important because it gave and still gives americans a choice in how they want things done, in Brittan there was no choice, and the founding fathers wanted to be as far away from Brittans type of goverment as possible. The Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791

= = ====A jury awarded petitioner $750,000 on her claims against respondent county under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the District Court reduced the damages to $500,000. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the liability finding, but set aside the damages award as grossly excessive and remanded for recalculation. The District Court then awarded petitioner $50,000. She filed a motion for a new trial in which she declined the award, arguing that, in reducing her damages, the Fourth Circuit had effectively offered her a remittitur, which entitled her to a new trial under the Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of a jury trial. The District Court agreed, concluding that when a court finds a jury’s verdict excessive and reduces it, the plaintiff has a right either to accept the reduced award or to have a new trial on the damages issue.==== It means if your suing someone for more than $20 you can have your choice in weather there is a jury or not in your case. Its nice to be able to have choices now that our ancestors didn't have back more than 200 years ago in early america.
 * __Hetzel v. Prince William County, Va.__**
 * __What could/does this amendment mean for me?__**

"Amendment Seven" http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=22931 Hetzel v.Prince Willam County http://docs.justia.com/cases/supreme/523/208.pdf Project instructions http://rightswebquest.wikispaces.com/
 * __Sorces:__**