Samuel Freeman Miller

“ When we consider the cases already cited, in which such a waiver has been implied, and that the right to have a jury when a party demands it is so universally known and respected, we think that it is almost a necessary inference, where a party is present by counsel and goes to trial before the court without objection or exception, he has voluntarily waived his right to a jury, and must be held in this court to the legal consequences of such a waiver. ”

“ We cannot believe that Congress intended to say that the parties shall not, as heretofore, submit their cases to the court unless they do so by a written stipulation, but that it was the intention to enact that if parties who consent to waive a jury desire to secure the right to a review in the Supreme Court of any question of law arising in the trial, they must first file their written stipulation, and must then ask the court to make a finding of such facts as they deem essential to the review, and ask the ruling of the court on points to which they wish to except. ”

“ The language of the section is that the stipulation may be filed with the clerk of the court, which is undoubtedly designed to enable the parties to make agreements in vacation; and it is required to be in writing, to prevent either party demanding a jury unexpectedly at the trial. In those courts where juries are called from a great distance and detained at a heavy sacrifice, the courts usually give jury trials the preference. ”