TO WHAT COURTS AND CASES APPLICABLE
Amendment VII governs only courts which sit under the authority of the United States,[10] including courts in the territories[11] and the District of Columbia.[12] It does not apply to a State court even when it is enforcing a right created by federal statute.[13] Its coverage is "* * * limited to rights and remedies peculiarly legal in their nature, and such as it was proper to assert in courts of law and by the appropriate modes and proceedings of courts of law."[14] The term "common law" is used in contradistinction to suits in which equitable rights alone were recognized at the time of the framing of the amendment and equitable remedies were administered.[15] Hence it does not apply to cases where recovery of money damages is incident to equitable relief even though damages might have been recovered in an action at law.[16] Nor does it apply to cases in admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, in which the trial is by a court without a jury.[17] Nor does it reach statutory proceedings unknown to the common law, such as an application to a court of equity to enforce an order of an administrative body.[18]
CASES NOT GOVERNED BY THE AMENDMENT
Omission of a jury has been upheld in the following instances on the ground that the suit in question was not a suit at common law within the meaning of the Seventh Amendment;
(1) Suits to enforce claims against the United States.[19]
(2) Suit authorized by Territorial law against a municipality, based upon a moral obligation only.[20]
(3) Suit to cancel a naturalization certificate for fraud.[21]
(4) Order of deportation of an alien.[22]
(5) Assessment of damages in patent infringement suit.[23]
(6) Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.[24]