The Civil Jury
This course considers the institution of the civil jury, using both traditional legal materials as well as empirical research about juries and social science research from disciplines such as social and cognitive psychology, organizational behavior, economics, history, political science, and decision science. Topics will include the constitutional right to jury trial in civil cases, the role of the jury in the civil justice system and in the American political system, jury selection (including constitutional limitations), jury decision-making, juror misconduct,the debate over the competence of juries to decide complex cases, critiques and defenses of the modern civil jury, the reasons for and implications of the "vanishing trial," and alternatives to jury trial. There will be several guest speakers.