america's favorite f-words: "founding fathers"

[rone]

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.

The question i have is, what does twenty 1789 dollars come out to be in today's currency?

Oh, and another question: why twenty dollars?

Comments

[dr-strych9.livejournal.com]

You have, of course, read the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) article, yes?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heavens to Betsy, Wikipedia you say? What will the Internet wiz kids think of next?

I hadn't read it, no. And now that i have, it is of no help to my inquiries. Of course, now i'm wondering if my interpretation, that the FRCP has essentially invalidated the 7th Amendment, is at all valid.

[dr-strych9.livejournal.com]

No, just muddled the distinction between matters of common law and equity. The twenty dollars figure is a kinda vestigial thing in the law now. The thing you care about now is what the figure has to be for you to get out of small claims court.

Why is this burning a hole in your hat?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Just idly pondering the scads of legacy code we have in our Constitution. Or not even legacy code so much as driver code for a device that was EOLed decades ago.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I've often thought that in the technology of the modern democratic republic we suffer somewhat from early adopter troubles.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

More like modern democratic republics suffer from second-system effect...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Some of that too.

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

You have early adopter troubles with your democracy (I'm cheerfully ignoring the "republic" part)? Try having an unelected second chamber.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I'll admit that not even the current US administration has seriously proposed anything this scary. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-2049791,00.html)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...on the other hand, they do have the strange tendency to insist that the President's status as commander-in-chief of the armed forces somehow makes all checks on executive power inoperative.

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Indeedy, and I have to confess that this one had slipped under my own radar until now. It seems further confirmation, if any were needed [1], that we are heading for a certain creek, without a certain implement.

[1] In a similar-but-different "oh shit" vein, the other day saw the strange and scary experience of Tony Blair citing his religious faith when defending the war in Iraq. I know that certain US politicians like to invoke some bloke in the sky at every opportunity, to justify any number of heinous activities (if he does support half the things he is claimed to be in favour of, I'm all for impeachment of deities), but such God references are a genuine rarity over here.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

That article does explain the origins of some features of US civil trials that I hadn't thought much about before, such as the way that judges will hand down court orders on their own authority after the jury gives a verdict.