Cite as: 532 U. S. 424 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
III
"Unlike the measure of actual damages suffered, which presents a question of historical or predictive fact, see, e. g., [St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Craft, 237 U. S. 648 (1915)], the level of punitive damages is not really a 'fact' 'tried' by the jury." Gasperini v. Center for Humanities, Inc., 518 U. S. 415, 459 (1996) (Scalia, J., dissenting). Because the jury's award of punitive damages does not constitute a finding of "fact," appellate review of the district court's determination that an award is consistent with due process does not implicate the Seventh Amendment concerns raised by respondent and its amicus.10 See Brief for Respondent 18-24; Brief for Association of Trial Lawyers of America as Amicus Curiae 17-20. Our decisions in Gasperini and Hetzel v. Prince William County, 523 U. S. 208 (1998) (per curiam), both of which concerned compensatory damages, are not to the contrary.11
importance of appellate review to ensuring that a jury's award of punitive damages comports with due process. See id., at 20-21 ("[A]ppellate review makes certain that the punitive damages are reasonable in their amount and rational in light of their purpose to punish what has occurred and to deter its repetition").
10 Respondent argues that our decision in Honda Motor Co. v. Oberg, 512 U. S. 415 (1994), rests upon the assumption that punitive damages awards are findings of fact. In that case, we held that the Oregon Constitution, which prohibits the reexamination of any "fact tried by a jury," Ore. Const., Art. VII, § 3, violated due process because it did not allow for any review of the constitutionality of punitive damages awards. Respondent claims that, because we considered this provision of the Oregon Constitution to cover punitive damages, we implicitly held that punitive damages are a "fact tried by a jury." Brief for Respondent 27-28. It was the Oregon Supreme Court's interpretation of that provision, however, and not our own, that compelled the treatment of punitive damages as covered. See Oberg, 512 U. S., at 427; see also Van Lom v. Schneider-man, 187 Ore. 89, 93, 210 P. 2d 461, 462 (1949) (construing the Oregon Constitution).
11 Nor does the historical material upon which respondent relies so extensively, see Brief for Respondent 19-24, conflict with our decision to require de novo review. Most of the sources respondent cites merely
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