Philip W. Boyko Civil Litigation Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Wouldn't it be good to have a law that would make careless and insensitive individuals and companies, despotic government bureaucrats, out-of-control cops, child molesters and drunk drivers accountable to ordinary Americans?  And when people are harmed, a group of average citizens could carefully examine the facts, and those who were in the wrong - no matter how powerful - may have to pay for the damage they caused.

We have such a law; it is written into the Bill of Rights of our Constitution.  The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to trial by jury in civil cases.  In fact, the first generation of Americans believed this right was so important that they threatened to reject the entire Constitution if such a right were not included.

These days there are some people that choose to ridicule the American jury.  The media often circulates stories of "crazy" jury verdicts - though the stories almost always turn out to be gross distortions or even fabrications.

The rule of law in America helps ensure freedom of expression, the sanctity of contracts, the rights of workers, the safety of products and services, the preservation of the environment, and all the underpinnings of civil society.  It is worth considering that those who fashioned the nation's fundamental law - the Constitution - insisted that the civil jury "shall be preserved."