Q: United Statese v. Wonson (1812)
In the 1812 case United States v. Wonson, what was the dispute between the 2 parties about? As in, what were the arguments of both parties? The information online on this case is very scarce. Thank you!
A:
In United States v. Wonson (1812), the federal government sought a new trial against Samuel Wonson after it had already lost an earlier civil case against him over land titles. Specifically, the government wanted to retry the factual issues in the case related to the validity of Wonson's property grants even though those facts had already been decided in the first trial that Wonson won.
Samuel Wonson objected to re-litigating the facts. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, acting as circuit judge, sided with Wonson. Justice Story held that allowing the government to retry the factual determinations that went against it in the original civil trial would violate the Seventh Amendment, which preserves the right to jury decisions on factual matters in civil suits at common law. Thus, Justice Story affirmed the outcome based on the facts as originally determined in Wonson's favor, barring the government from taking a second bite at challenging the same factual findings.
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