HR0206LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The right to trial by jury was guaranteed to
3certain free subjects of the King of England and his successors
4by the Magna Carta of 1215, among the first official documents
5ever to limit the power of government over individual citizens;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, Over subsequent centuries, the rights and
8liberties guaranteed by that great charter grew to safeguard
9the liberties of all English subjects; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Royal interference with the right to trial by
11jury, along with unfair taxation imposed without the consent of
12the governed, figured prominently in the colonists' subsequent
13dissatisfaction with English rule, which culminated in
14revolution and independence; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The First Continental Congress, convened in 1774
16to protest further abuses and prepare for a larger
17confrontation, declared and resolved "that the respective
18colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more
19especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being
20tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course
21of that law"; and
 

 

 

HR0206- 2 -LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

1    WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence revoked the
2colonies' allegiance to King George III on July 4, 1776, for,
3among other abuses, "depriving us in many cases, of the
4benefits of trial by jury"; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
6Independence, member of the Continental Congress, and
7President of the United States, wrote to Thomas Paine in 1789
8and declared that "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor
9ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to
10the principles of its constitution"; and
 
11    WHEREAS, John Adams, first Vice-President of the United
12States, and Second President of the United States, reflected
13upon juries as "the heart and lungs of liberty"; and
 
14    WHEREAS, John Marshall, Secretary of State, Chief Justice
15of the United States Supreme Court, and namesake of the Chicago
16law school expressed in the Virginia Convention to ratify the
17United States Constitution his "hope that in this country,
18where impartiality is so much admired, the laws will direct
19facts to be ascertained by a jury"; and
 
20    WHEREAS, The late Chief Justice of the United States
21Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist said in 1979 that "the
22founders of our nation considered the right of trial by jury in

 

 

HR0206- 3 -LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

1civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and
2corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of
3the sovereign. Juries represent the layman's common sense and
4this keeps the administration of the law in accord with the
5wishes and feelings of the community"; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the
7United States, the Great Emancipator, and self-proclaimed
8"prairie lawyer" who tried hundreds of cases remarked on the
9value of jury service as "the highest calling of any citizen";
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, In 1954, in a decision that echoed through the
12halls of every school throughout the United States, Brown v.
13Board of Education, desegregation of schoolchildren within our
14schools was achieved, pursuant to the "Equal Protection"
15provisions of the 14th Amendment to the United States
16Constitution, through the civil justice system; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Those that pollute the air that we breathe, the
18water that we drink, and the soil from which we grow our crops
19have been held to account through our civil justice system and
20trial by jury; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Safety protocols and procedures have been
22improved for: packaging and delivery of medicines;

 

 

HR0206- 4 -LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

1automobiles, airplanes, and trains; the toys with which our
2children and grandchildren play; the construction and
3maintenance of our homes and buildings; and countless other
4protections have been achieved through the civil justice system
5and trial by jury; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Illinois' courts are open to its citizens that are
7harmed by the actions of another, and to businesses, which
8account for 70% of civil case filings; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Article 1, Section 13 of the Constitution of the
10State of Illinois states that "The right of trial by jury as
11heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate"; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Recognizing that juries are selected fairly and
13randomly from the pools of adult resident citizens, which are
14cut from the fabric of each of Illinois' communities and
15represent the strengths of Illinois' diversity and are without
16consideration for color, gender, race, creed, religion,
17socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation; and
 
18    WHEREAS, It is this recognition and these strengths that
19fundamentally empower our citizens, and ensure that jurors are
20coequal within the jury box; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Citizen empowerment and having fair sanctuary to

 

 

HR0206- 5 -LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

1pursue justice before a jury of our peers in a court of law are
2sacrosanct cornerstones of democracy; and
 
3    WHEREAS, The sentiments of these Founding Fathers,
4patriots, jurists, and legislators are shared by many Americans
5who regard the right of trial by jury as an essential safeguard
6of liberty; therefore, be it
 
7    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
8NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that in
9order for Illinois' citizens to have fair opportunity to
10redress their grievances, to maintain a system of justice that
11lends no favor within its arena, and to insure that the scale
12of justice remains blind to its pursuers, we declare the right
13to trial by jury of one's peers be preserved, neither altered
14nor eroded by those that may threaten it, in accordance with
15the foresight of our ancestors that safeguarded this most
16fundamental right.