ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the origins of the Seventh Amendment and the basic principles reflected in the Supreme Court decisions interpreting it. It examines certain Supreme Court decisions that some courts and commentators have read as establishing a Seventh Amendment right to a jury determination of the amount of punitive damages. The chapter demonstrates that having juries fix punitive damages is not necessary to preserve the substance of the common-law right to trial by jury. Under the English common law, there was no right to a trial by jury on the issue of damages. The chapter argues that, as a matter of policy, the power to set punitive damages in federal court should rest with trial judges, subject to appellate review, rather than with juries. It shows that neither a new statute nor an amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is necessary to permit federal trial judges to determine the amount of punitive damages.
