Reexamining the Right to Trial by Jury

The purpose of this article is to emphasize the Seventh Amendment\u27s reexamination clause and how it functions to protect the jury\u27s province from invasion. Fundamental to the notion of the jury\u27s province are the jury\u27s right to decide mixed questions of law and fact, and the jury\u27s right to draw inferences from the evidence. This article focuses on the Supreme Court\u27s recognition of the importance of these two jury rights-particularly the latter- in recent jurisprudence and the circuit courts\u27 interpretations of the high Court\u27s decisions. In so doing, this article explains how a recent Supreme Court decision requires a reassessment of the common understanding of current federal summary judgment principles. The article also addresses weight-of-the-evidence review and explains its relationship to legal sufficiency review and to the reexamination clause. As a whole, the theme of the article is that although appellate courts may review jury verdicts to ensure they are supported by legally and factually sufficient evidence, their methods of review must be consonant with the substance and the spirit of the Seventh Amendment