I contend, therefore, on this ground, that the
expressions, "appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact," do not
necessarily imply a re-examination in the Supreme Court of facts decided
by juries in the inferior courts.
The following train of ideas may well be imagined to have influenced the
convention, in relation to this particular provision. The appellate
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (it may have been argued) will extend
to causes determinable in different modes, some in the course of the
COMMON LAW, others in the course of the CIVIL LAW. In the former, the
revision of the law only will be, generally speaking, the proper
province of the Supreme Court; in the latter, the re-examination of the
fact is agreeable to usage, and in some cases, of which prize causes are
an example, might be essential to the preservation of the public peace.
It is therefore necessary that the appellate jurisdiction should, in
certain cases, extend in the broadest sense to matters of fact. It will
not answer to make an express exception of cases which shall have been
originally tried by a jury, because in the courts of some of the States
all causes are tried in this mode[4]; and such an exception would
preclude the revision of matters of fact, as well where it might be
proper, as where it might be improper.
Pages:
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842