1882. COURTS OF CHANCERY, Juries in.—[further continued].
In that one of the bills
for organizing our [Va.] judiciary system,
which proposed a court of Chancery, I had
provided for a trial by jury of all matters of
fact, in that as well as in the courts of law.
Edmund Pendleton defeated it by the introduction
of four words only, “if either party
choose.” The consequence has been, that as
no suitor will say to his judge, “Sir, I distrust
you, give me a jury,” juries are rarely, I
might say, perhaps, never seen in that court,
but when called for by the Chancellor of his
own accord.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 37.
Ford ed., i, 50.
(1821)
