Who Wants a Jury?

Written by Chris Uhl
The information contained herein is only to inform the public and does not create an attorney client relationship with the reader. You should always consult an attorney when seeking legal advice.

How do I get out of jury duty? Imagine you are the person going to Court looking to the jury for a just decision. Do you want the jury pool that remains? There was a now retired judge who would say that if the jurors were not smart enough to get out of jury duty, how smart are they to make your decision. Why do we even have juries? In Old English Law the King or his appointed relatives or friends made all the decisions. Imagine how you were treated if you were not a friend or relative of the King?

We should thank our Forefathers and the Framer’s of the United States Constitution for the Jury System. Article III (section2, part 3) in the original United States Constitution requires the trial of all crimes shall be by jury. In 1791, the VII Amendment to the United States Constitution allows suits in common law with the value of over twenty dollars the right to a jury trial. Congress changed the twenty-dollar amount some time ago. Recently, Congress has changed that amount from $ 50,000 to $ 75,000.

The United States Constitution initially only applied to the Federal Government and not the States. After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was interpreted by the United States Supreme Court to apply the United States Constitution to all the States. Some States have written Constitutions more stringent than the Federal. More rights are given to the people by the State. Massachusetts is one of those States.

Congress has the authority in accordance with Article III to regulate the Federal Courts at their whim. The United States Constitution formed only the United States Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress may ordain and establish. The inferior Courts are all the remaining Federal District and Appellate Courts. The State Courts were developed in almost the same fashion. Congress has never had the authority to regulate juries. Today the jury system is the same as in 1776 with some changes in the selection process and length of time jurors must serve on the panel.

Why do we still need juries in today’s modern era? Mankind has not changed that much. Our ancestors came here to be free of government control and later fought for their freedom over tea taxes in Boston. They knew what it meant to place too much power in the hands of one individual. This is why the jury system is so important and an integral part in the United States Constitution. An unbiased peer, your neighbor, makes the decision. Anyone who sits in judgment of others day in and day out hears every possible story there is to hear. You tend to be jaundiced or biased even though some of the stories you hear could be true.

In Massachusetts, the jury system is so paramount that we take the jury system to extremes. Of course there are juries for all criminal and civil cases, as you would expect. We even have jury trials for Small Claims cases. I once observed in the Worcester Jury Session a Civil Small Claims Jury Trial where the plaintiff was awarded $12.00. There are still many Civil Small Claims Jury Trials over trivial amounts of money. When the line is drawn in the sand between two parties, it becomes principle and not money as the driving force. The litigants forget the reason they are there. A right to a jury trial is so sacred that you still may have a jury trial even though it may cost the taxpayers of Massachusetts thousands of dollars for a $12.00 judgment.

Just remember that one day you will want to rely on the best system in the world for a decision you need. Hopefully for your sake all the intelligent people did not opt out of jury duty that day. Show up for jury duty because the jury pool needs to be made up of each and everyone of us. Our Forefathers are counting on us.

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