Besides this,
the circumstances that constitute cases proper for courts of equity are
in many instances so nice and intricate, that they are incompatible with
the genius of trials by jury. They require often such long, deliberate,
and critical investigation as would be impracticable to men called from
their occupations, and obliged to decide before they were permitted to
return to them. The simplicity and expedition which form the
distinguishing characters of this mode of trial require that the matter
to be decided should be reduced to some single and obvious point; while
the litigations usual in chancery frequently comprehend a long train of
minute and independent particulars.
It is true that the separation of the equity from the legal jurisdiction
is peculiar to the English system of jurisprudence: which is the model
that has been followed in several of the States. But it is equally true
that the trial by jury has been unknown in every case in which they have
been united. And the separation is essential to the preservation of that
institution in its pristine purity. The nature of a court of equity will
readily permit the extension of its jurisdiction to matters of law; but
it is not a little to be suspected, that the attempt to extend the
jurisdiction of the courts of law to matters of equity will not only be
unproductive of the advantages which may be derived from courts of
chancery, on the plan upon which they are established in this State, but
will tend gradually to change the nature of the courts of law, and to
undermine the trial by jury, by introducing questions too complicated
for a decision in that mode.
Pages:
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870