This course considers the institution of the civil jury. Readings include traditional legal materials as well as empirical research about juries and social science research from disciplines such as social and cognitive psychology, organizational behavior, history, political science, and behavioral economics. Topics include the constitutional right to jury trial in civil cases, the role of the jury in the civil justice system and in the American political system, jury selection, jury decision-making, juror misconduct, the debate over the competence of juries in complex cases, critiques and defenses of the civil jury, the reasons for the implications of the "vanishing jury trial," and alternatives to jury trial, both comparatively (for example, in civil law countries) and within the U.S. justice system (for example, bench trials, arbitration, agency adjudication, advisory juries, and ADR techniques). There are several quest speakers.