Judges decide law while juries decide facts and apply it

Evidence

Today the judge determines the law and instructs the jury about it, and the jury determines the facts and applies the law to those facts. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1409

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the core judge-jury division of labor central to understanding trial process.
• XREF: connects to: Applying law to facts often requires inseparable fact-law determinations — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 800; Juries convict more leniently than judges would in criminal cases — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 891; Trial and appellate courts perform distinct functions regarding facts versus legal correctness — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 218 (+19 more)

Broader Connections

• Judicial decisions are governed by beliefs about facts and rules #complicates (1.00) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 160
• Judges create law when forced to choose among competing interpretations. #expands (1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 196
• American juries once decided both law and fact, free to ignore judges #contradicts (1.00) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1410
• Common law judges may only decide the case before them #expands (1.00) — Burton, Steven J, An Introduction to Law and Legal…, 227
• Directed verdicts require courts to decide if facts permit reasonable inferences #qualifies (0.95) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 221
• Judges’ need for peer approval shapes how they decide cases. #qualifies (0.93) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2645
• Deductive judicial decision making begins by fitting case facts into a legal category. #qualifies (0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2515
• Judges create and reshape legal rules by reasoning analogically across cases, not by deduction #complicates (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2542
• Jurors decide cases based on personal sympathy rather than facts #complicates (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1451