454
Scalia, J., dissenting
eral power to set aside the verdict. . . . Whether [the refusal to exercise that power] was erroneous or not, our power is restricted by the Constitution to the determination of the questions of law arising upon the record. Our authority does not extend to a re-examination of facts which have been tried by the jury under instructions correctly defining the legal rights of parties. Parsons v. Bedford, [supra] . . . ." Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U. S. 24, 31-32 (1879).
This view was for long years not only unquestioned in our cases, but repeatedly affirmed.3
3 See, e. g., Wabash R. Co. v. McDaniels, 107 U. S. 454, 456 (1883) ("That we are without authority to disturb the judgment upon the ground that the damages are excessive cannot be doubted. Whether the order overruling the motion for a new trial based upon that ground was erroneous or not, our power is restricted to the determination of questions of law arising upon the record. Railroad Company v. Fraloff, 100 U. S. 24 [(1879)]"); Arkansas Valley Land & Cattle Co. v. Mann, 130 U. S. 69, 75 (1889) ("[H]owever it was ascertained by the court that the verdict was too large . . . , the granting or refusing a new trial in a Circuit Court of the United States is not subject to review by this court") (citing Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 433 (1830); Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U. S. 24 (1879)); Lincoln v. Power, 151 U. S. 436, 437-438 (1894) ("[I]t is not permitted for this court, sitting as a court of errors, in a case wherein damages have been fixed by the verdict of a jury, to take notice of [a claim of excessive damages] where the complaint is only of the action of the jury. . . . [W]here there is no reason to complain of the instructions, an error of the jury in allowing an unreasonable amount is to be redressed by a motion for a new trial") (citing Parsons, supra; Fraloff, supra); Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226, 242-246 (1897); Southern Railway-Carolina Div. v. Bennett, 233 U. S. 80, 87 (1914) ("[A] case of mere excess upon the evidence is a matter to be dealt with by the trial court. It does not present a question for reexamination here upon a writ of error") (citing Lincoln, supra); Fairmount Glass Works v. Cub Fork Coal Co., 287 U. S. 474, 481- 482 (1933) ("The rule that this Court will not review the action of a federal trial court in granting or denying a motion for a new trial for error of fact has been settled by a long and unbroken line of decisions; and has been frequently applied where the ground of the motion was that the damages
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