Juries In-depth: Jury Powers

Overview

The traditional description of the jury’s role gives it two powers:

(1) to decide the facts, and

(2) to apply the law to the facts.

Each of these powers is more complex than this simple description indicates. To read more about the jury’s power to determine the facts, click here.

To learn more about the jury’s power to apply the law, click here.

And to learn more about the jury’s power to disregard the law even though it has no right to do so (“jury nullification”), click here.

Also, since 1991 the Supreme Court has held that there is a constitutional limit on the power of a jury to award excessive punitive damages. To read about this doctrine, click here.