Seventh Amendment
What Does It Say?
"In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of common law."
So What Does That Mean?
This amendment is basically saying that even in cases dealing with property or money, you are allowed a trial in front of a group of people.
How Did This Amendment Come About?
The idea was originally introduced by William I. The amendment was introduced on September 25, 1789 by congress to protect the right to a trial by jury in civil cases. It was needed because the British took away that right from their citizens. It was ratified on December 15, 1796 with the 3/4 law. 11 out of 14 states ratified it.
Supreme Court Case That Challenged This Amendment.
One example of a court case that challenged this was the Collgrove v. Battin case in 1973. The courts debated issues regarding juries, like their sizes. The use to consist of 12 people but the sizes were cut in '73. The court ruled that smaller juries did not violate the 7th amendment. They said that this was true because the amendment isn't directed towards the the characteristics of the jury.
Citations
MAHONEY, DENNIS J. "Seventh Amendment." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Ed. Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 2388. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.
"Bing." 7th+Amendment+Political+Cartoon. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.