Lochlan Shelfer has posted on SSRN his note, SpecialJuries in the Supreme Court, 123 Yale L.J. 208 (2013). Here’s theabstract:
This Note presents the first detailed analysis of theSupreme Court’s only published jury trial, Georgia v. Brailsford (1794). Itexamines the case’s hitherto unstudied oral arguments and list of potentialjurors, and argues that the "special jury" the Court employed was aMansfieldian special jury of merchants. Brailsford has fascinated scholars bothfor the intriguing prospect of the Supreme Court presiding over a jury trial,and for the case’s provocative language on the power of juries to find the law.But for all of this interest, the case remains ill-understood. This Note’sconclusion that the Supreme Court used a special jury of merchants offersinsights into both of these puzzles.