In some cases (and they are frequently the most important ones) the American judges have the right of deciding causes alone.

*i Upon these occasions they are accidentally placed in the position which the French judges habitually occupy, but they are invested with far more power than the latter; they are still surrounded by the reminiscence of the jury, and their judgment has almost as much authority as the voice of the community at large, represented by that institution.

Their influence extends beyond the limits of the courts; in the recreations of private life as well as in the turmoil of public business, abroad and in the legislative assemblies, the American judge is constantly surrounded by men who are accustomed to regard his intelligence as superior to their own, and after having exercised his power in the decision of causes, he continues to influence the habits of thought and the characters of the individuals who took a part in his judgment.
[Footnote i: The Federal judges decide upon their own authority almost all the questions most important to the country.] The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of magistracy, does in reality consolidate its power, and in no country are the judges so powerful as there, where the people partakes their privileges.

It is more especially by means of the jury in civil causes that the American magistrates imbue all classes of society with the spirit of their profession.

Thus the jury, which is the most energetic means of making the people rule, is also the most efficacious means of teaching it to rule well..