In civil cases, each party shall be entitled to three peremptory challenges. Several defendants or several plaintiffs may be considered as a single party for the purposes of making challenges, or the court may allow additional peremptory challenges and permit them to be exercised separately or jointly.
All challenges for cause or favor, whether to the array or panel or to individual jurors, shall be determined by the court.
June 25, 1948, ch. 64662 Stat. 953Pub. L. 86–28273 Stat. 565(, ; , , .)
Historical and Revision Notes
Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, § 28736 Stat. 1166Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 424 (, ).
section 424 of title 28Provisions of , U.S.C., 1940 ed., relating to the number of peremptory challenges in criminal cases were deleted as superseded by Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
The last sentence of the first paragraph was added to permit the same flexibility in the matter of challenges in civil cases as is permitted in criminal cases by said Rule 24.
section 424 of title 28Words “without aid of triers” at end of , U.S.C., 1940 ed., were omitted as surplusage.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
Pub. L. 86–2821959— substituted “may” for “shall” after “several plaintiffs”, and “, or the court may allow” for “. If there is more than one defendant the court may allow the defendants”.