Seventh And Eighth Amendment The Seventh Amendment example essay topic

650 words
The Seventh and Eighth Amendment The Seventh Amendment was developed by Mr. Williamson of North Carolina, on September 12, 1787. He " observed to the House that no provision was yet made for juries in civil cases and suggested the necessity of it". On September 15 it was inserted in Article saying that "a trial by jury shall be preserved as usual in civil cases" and the move was defeated. This amendment was one of James Madison's proposals to the House. The Supreme Court has defined the Seventh Amendment as preserving the right of trial by jury in civil cases. The right consisted of twelve men in a jury and under the superior man, the judge.

Also, the decision of the jury would be held by an unanimous verdict. The Amendment's most important purpose is the preservation of "the common law distinction between the province of the court and that of the jury, whereby, in the absence of express or implied consent to the contrary, issues of law are resolved by the court and issues of fact are to be determined by the jury under appropriate instructions by the court". If Amendment Seven did not exist, then the world would be total chaos. Crimes and civil cases are taken into the hands of the judge and the jury.

If this didn't exist, then people would do whatever they wanted knowing that nothing would happen to them. This amendment is very important because let's say that a doctor was payed a large amount of money to perform a heart surgery on a man that has a disabled, weak heart. If the doctor made a huge mistake, then the man could press charges and sue him. This amendment could also ensure him to a trial by jury and make sure that his situation will be settled. Also, if there was no Seventh Amendment, people would be fighting publicly and this would cause more trouble and problems in the world. The Seventh Amendment to me ensures a very important right to everybody.

It civilizes people and also causes less controversy in the world. The Eighth Amendment states that " Difficulty would attend the effort to define with exactness the extent of the constitutional provision which provides that cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted; but it is safe to affirm that punishments of torture [such as drawing and quartering, embowel ling alive, beheading, public dissecting, and burning alive], and all others in the same line of unnecessary cruelty, are forbidden by that amendment to the Constitution". The court could looked to only traditional practices but studied the history of executions in the territory concerned, the military practice, and current writings on the death penalty. Years later, a separated court assumed that the ability of the Eighth Amendment to the States held that a second electrocution following a mechanical failure at which injured but did not kill the condemned man did not violate the proscription. Separation of citizenship of a natural born citizen was held in Trop vs. Dulles and was to be constitutionally forbidden as a penalty more cruel and " more primitive than torture".

A punishment must be studied " in light of the basic prohibition against inhuman treatment", and that Amendment was to preserve the dignity of man" by assuring that power to impose punishment is "exercised within the limits of civilized standards". To me, if the Eighth Amendment didn't exist, then top hard core murderers would get away with a horrible crime and not deserve the same thing that they did to an innocent person. Cruel and unusual punishment, in my opinion, is wrong and should not be performed. The Eighth Amendment makes a huge difference in our lives and has changed the world forever.