Juries satisfy the form of a verdict without understanding its substance

Evidence

The fourth question stumped them for a while. Like the second question, it asked them for a date, but what date they couldn’t begin to fathom. They were about to put in “Not Determined” again when they decided to adjourn for the weekend and consider the matter again on Monday before reporting to the judge. On Monday morning, Fox came up with a date—September 1973. That, Fox told the others, was when Grace had closed a storm drain at the plant into which workers had poured waste solvents. Everyone quickly accepted this date, even though they had no idea what relation it bore to the question. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2398

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The jury answers a question it admits it cannot parse, and the arbitrary answer it picks becomes the fact that governs the rest of the case — a quiet demonstration that verdicts are authored, not decoded.
• SEED: An essay on special interrogatories and what happens when the legal question is unintelligible to the people tasked with answering it.