CIVIL JURY TRIALS - ASSESSING NON-PECUNIARY DAMAGES - CIVIL JURY REFORM

Abstract

Foreman v. Foster presents an opportunity to examine the modern history of civil juries and their awards for non pecuniary damages in the courts of England, the United States of America, British Columbia, Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. Trial by a civil jury is not just a right possessed by all litigants in a common law action . Like the right to vote, it is also a democratic privilege giving eligible citizens the right to insist on participating as jurors from time to time. No political voice champions the cause of trial by a civil jury. Few Canadian academics write about its strengths and its weaknesses. Because of procedural antiquity, it is used less frequently. Unless judges and lawyers join together and update its operation, soon it will disappear from the legal landscape. Judges and lawyers carry the duty to preserve and modernize the civil justice system for the public's benefit.