The Right to Strike the Jury Trial Demand in Complex Litigation

Authors

Jeffrey Oakes

Abstract

During the last forty years, the increasing complexity of problems in the law and the merger of law and equity have created difficulties for federal judges trying to develop an analytical framework for determining the scope of the seventh amendment right to jury trial in complex litigation. The issue arises when, due to the jury's inability to comprehend the facts and therefore, to perform adequately its factfinding function, the seventh amendment comes into conflict with the constitutional guarantee of due process. The author suggests three separate methods of analysis, historical, functional and constitutional, and explains how these analyses permit a judge constitutionally to strike the jury in complex litigation.

Recommended Citation

Jeffrey Oakes, The Right to Strike the Jury Trial Demand in Complex Litigation, 34 U. Mia. L. Rev. 243 (1980)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr/vol34/iss2/4