Opinion ID: 853072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: History Surrounding Adoption of Article I, Section 20

Text: The first constitutional reference to jury trials in this State appeared in Article I, Section 5 of the 1816 Constitution, which provided: That in all civil cases, where the value in controversy shall exceed the sum of twenty dollars, and in all criminal cases, except in petit misdemeanors which shall be punished by fine only, not exceeding three dollars, in such manner as the legislature may prescribe by law, the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. Ind. Const. of 1816, art. I, § 5. When delegates met again in late 1850 and early 1851 to draft a new constitution, a committee on rights and privileges was formed. This committee was charged with, among other things, deciding whether to extend the right of trial by jury as it existed in the 1816 Constitution. 1 Report of the Debates and Proceedings of the Convention for the Revision of the Constitution of the State of Indiana 226 (A.H. Brown ed., 1850). The committee focused primarily on whether there should be a minimum amount in controversy before the right to trial by jury was implicated and whether the civil and criminal right to trial by jury should be contained within the same section. Id. at 352-53; Journal of the Convention of the People of the State of Indiana to Amend the Constitution 80, 90, 204 (Austin H. Brown ed., 1851) (reprint 1936). In the end, the following version prevailed: In all civil cases, the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. [6] Ind. Const. art. I, § 20.