48 U.S.C. § 1616
Section 1616 · Trial by jury
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Government of Virgin Islands v. Bodle (1970)
Most recently applied in United States v. Obak (March 2018)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
All criminal cases originating in the district court shall be tried by jury upon demand by the defendant or by the Government. If no jury is demanded the case shall be tried by the judge of the district court without a jury, except that the judge may, on his own motion, order a jury for the trial of any criminal action. The legislature may provide for trial in misdemeanor cases by a jury of six qualified persons.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1958—Pub. L. 85–851 substituted requirement of jury trial upon demand by defendant or Government for prohibition against denial to any person on demand of either party.