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The Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment

Seventh Amendment

What freedom does the Seventh Amendment protect?

The Seventh Amendment provides: “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 the common law.”

The Seventh Amendment extends the right of jury trial in a civil, or non-criminal, case. The Seventh Amendment also guards against a judge second-guessing the jury’s determination of the facts in a case. In our legal system, juries decide questions of fact, while judges decide questions of law.



Torture has been common through much of history and is still practiced in some countries today. The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, however, prohibits cruel and unusual punishment (iStock).