It has already been stated that the article of the federal constitution on the judiciary recognizes a distinction between cases at law and cases in equity (see above, § 146) and Amendment VII guarantees jury trial only in cases at law. In equity cases, that is, cases which according to the practice in England at the time the colonies became independent were triable in courts of chancery, the judge determined both the law and the facts; and jury trial was not recognized except that in a case involving an issue of fact which might have been tried in a law court the judge could in his discretion refer the determination of such issue to a law court having a jury. In many of the states the same courts now try both law and equity cases, proceeding in the latter substantially in accordance with the chancery practice and determining both the law and the fact without the assistance of a jury, and this is the method adopted in the organization of the federal courts so that the question whether there shall be a jury trial in a case depends not upon the court in which the case is tried but upon the nature of the case.

If the case is one properly triable in equity and the procedure is in that form, it cannot be objected that the defendant is thereby deprived of trial by jury (Eilenbecker v. Plymouth County and In re Debs).