In A Libertarian’s Misplaced Attack on the Constitution, Ken Connor defends the common law — and later U.S. Constitution’s Seventh Amendment protection of trial by jury: “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.”
Connor lakes libertarian John Stossel to task for an attack on tort lawyers, and on the tort law system — for litigating civil wrongs like personal injury — in America. Connor’s correct that the Seventh Amendment addresses civil lawsuits, including actions for negligence, etc. He contends that one should reject Stossel’s attack on tort lawyers, as it’s really an attack on the Seventh Amendment:
What this really boils down to, then, is a question of principle. With regard to other questions constitutional, conservatives (and libertarians, for that matter) argue that an exception should not be allowed to undo the rule. We shouldn’t revoke the 2nd amendment just because some individuals commit crimes with guns. We shouldn’t axe the 1st amendment just because some choose to exercise their free speech in a hateful manner. And we shouldn’t do away with the 7th amendment just because some tort lawyers and their clients make frivolous claims in court.
One can have tort reform (or more reform, so to speak, as we don’t seem ever to get it right) and trial by jury in civil cases. The two aren’t exclusive of each other. Still, for those who’d like to see a defense of current tort law, Connor goes to town (so vigorously I’d almost think he made his living as a tort lawyer). One sledom sees defenses of the current system, and Connor’s catches one’s attention.