ABSTRACT
The US Constitution safeguards the right to a jury trial in separate provisions. Article III and the Sixth Amendment guarantee the right to a jury trial in criminal cases, and the Seventh Amendment guarantees the same right in civil cases. In Thompson v. Utah, 170 US 343, the Court ruled that in a federal criminal case, the Sixth Amendment required a twelve-member jury. The decision was based largely on historical tradition; the twelve-member jury had been a feature of the British and American legal systems for hundreds of years. In Williams v. Florida, 399 US 78, however, the Court refused to apply the same requirement to trials in state courts and upheld a six-person jury for criminal trials in non-capital cases. The Court argued that essential functions of the jury-accurately finding facts, deliberating the guilt of the accused, and fairly representing the community-could be performed as effectively by six citizens as by twelve.
