ABSTRACT
The Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the US Constitution deal primarily with the rights of individuals accused of or on trial for crimes, the Seventh Amendment deals with civil cases, that is, with disputes between private individuals or their claims for damages. Common law is the system of law that developed in Great Britain based on judicial decisions made in cases over hundreds of years. In a federal circuit court decision that Justice Joseph Story authored in United States v. Wonson, 28 F. Cas. 745, the Court developed the principle that the Seventh Amendment did not intend to apply the common law of individual states but rather the common law that was in place in England. Consistent with the British view that the sovereign cannot be sued without its consent, the Supreme Court has limited the use of juries in civil cases in which individuals bring suits for damages against the government.
