Tuesday, Jun. 28, 2011

What Does the Seventh Amendment Have to do With a 20-Dollar Bill?

The seventh amendment gives the right to a jury trial for any civil case over property more than $20. What could $20 buy in 1789?

Amendment VII
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 reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.