Trier of fact

A trier of fact (or finder of fact) is a person, or group of persons, who determines facts in a legal proceeding, usually a trial. To determine a fact is to decide, from the evidence, whether something existed or some event occurred.

Juries

Main article: jury

In a jury trial, a jury is the trier of fact. The jury finds the facts and applies them to the law it is instructed by the judge to use in order to reach its verdict. Thus, in a jury trial, the findings of fact are made by the jury while the judge makes legal rulings as to what evidence will be heard by the jury and what law governs the case. Jurors are instructed to strictly follow the law as given by the judge, but are in no way obligated to do so. In some cases this amounts to jury nullification, i.e. the jury effectively re-writing the law or blatantly ignoring it in a particular case.

In Anglo-American based legal systems, finding of fact made by the jury are not appealable unless clearly wrong to any reasonable person. This principle is enshrined in the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that "...no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."

Judges

Further information: bench trial

In a bench trial, judges are professional triers of fact. In a bench trial, the judge makes both findings of fact and rulings of law.

The findings of the judge of first instance is not normally disturbed by an appellate court.

Mixed systems

Main article: lay judge

In mixed systems, such as the judiciary of Germany, a mixture of both judges and lay judges are triers of fact.

See also

• Fact-finding

See also

• Court ruling
• Fact-finding