Raymond H. Pierson, III v. Northern California Collection Service, Inc., et al.

The right to a remedy in the courts for wrongful injury holds a revered place in our civil justice system. Lord Coke traced this tight to Chapter 29 of the Magna Carta, which guaranteed: “Every subject may take his remedy by course of the Law, and have justice, and right for injury done to him. ..”1 Edward Coke, the Second Part of the Institutes of the laws of England 55 (London, E. & R. Brooke 797). Chief Justice Marshall restated that principle for Americans: The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury. One of the first duties of government is to afford that protection. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U. s. (l Cranch) 137, 163 (1803). Thus, our Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process is an “affirmation of Magna Carta according to Coke.” Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1, 29 (1991) (Scalia, J., concurring).