Randolph C. Bentler v. Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge.

The right to trial by jury having been “intended to secure the individual from the arbitrary exercise of the powers of government,” Bank of Columbia v. Okely, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 235, 244, 4 L.Ed. 559 (1819), “every encroachment upon it has been watched with great jealousy.” Parsons v. Bedford, 28 U.S. (3 Pet.) 433, 446, 7 L.Ed. 732 (1830), overruled on other grounds, NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 57 S.Ct. 615, 81 L.Ed. 893 (1937). At the same time, “it is no easy task to adapt [the civil jury system] to the needs of a highly civilized nation, where…