Chancery Procedure and the Seventh Amendment: Jury Trial of Issues in Equity Cases before 1791

Abstract

There is some evidence that courts of equity in the eighteenth century and before, and in the early part of the nineteenth century, relied on procedures involving jury trial to determine disputed questions of fact. Because the evidence is modest it suggests rather than demonstrates the validity of the inferences that may be drawn from it. At the same time these inferences may be significant in assessing the constitutional position of jury trial in this country.