TAKING CENTER STAGE: The Virginia Revival Model Courtroom

• Published in: Judicature 2021-10, Vol.105 (3), p.54-63
• Main Authors: Conrad, Robert J, Welch, Justine Parry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Americans with Disabilities Act 1990-US; Appropriations; Architects; Architecture; Attorneys; Construction; Courthouses; History; Judges & magistrates; Law; Trials; Witnesses
• ISSN: 0022-5800

Norman Spaulding, the Sweitzer Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, once wrote: "Beyond the question of jurisdiction, which sovereignty implies, and the right of exclusion, which private property entails, precious little is said in legal theory about the relationship between justice and the space in which it operates. "8 Courthouses serve as monuments to our legal tradition, so a willingness to reconsider design assumptions and unexamined practices is essential to the continuing vitality, indeed renewed energy, of jury trials.9 "Architects and those commissioning buildings have long understood the importance of space and place in creating and reinforcing courtroom identities, but this study of court architecture encourages the reader to confront the interface between rhetoric and reality. The design team, led by Judge Conrad, toured numerous courthouses across the country with an eye for design features, or "fittings," that would improve the administration of justice in future courthouse construction - and, more specifically, would improve courtroom construction.15 Throughout these tours, our team compared courtroom features in search of the most effective design, endeavoring to discover an approach that best embodied the values of the justice system while simultaneously complying with the demanding federal U.S. Courts Design Guide specifications16 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.17 In short, we did everything modern-day courts do in anticipation of new courthouse construction - and one additional thing: George Cooke's 1834 painting, Patrick Henry Arguing the Parson's Cause at Hanover Courthouse (right),19 illustrates the VRM in action.20 Toward the center of Cooke's painting, attorney Patrick Henry stands in the second tier of wooden benches of the lawyer's bar as he tries his first case.21 The clerk of court is shown working at a centralized wooden table, and the jury sits directly behind him.22 This placement of the jury bench behind the clerk and below the judge's bench was a change from the standard practice in other 18th-century American courtrooms, in which the jury sat in an enclosed "box" made up of two or three rows of benches located off to the side of the judges' bench - the "traditional model," as known today.23 Virginia's unique placement of the jury bench in the early 18th century aligns with the era's architectural experimentation.