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Gentlemen of the Committee: When the committee considered
the matter of juries in civil cases, we then had before us
a number of judges and trial lawyers. It was the unanimous
opinion, except for one witness, that we have a unanimous
civil jury verdict. However, there was some question wit
respect to whether it would be necessary to have 12 jurors
in every ca?e, because there are practices, particularly i
some of the rural areas where it may be necessary to have
smaller juries, or it may be desirable; also, it is ppsibi*
that if the jurisdictional amount is set by the Legisla-
ture as to matters granting a jury trial, that it would
cover an area in which there would be the District Courts,
and as a possibility that there might be an opportunity
for jury trial in a District Court where the jurisdictional
amount was set by the Legislature for District Courts at
a higher amount than the amount required for a jury trial,
why it would be possible to have, if the Legislature so
wanted, to arrange for a jury of less than 12. The Legis
lature could also arrange for juries of less than 12 in
the Superior Court, but we thought it was desirable to put
a bottom to this figure. That is why we use the figure of