§ 25-1104.Issues; how tried generally; court and jury.

Section 25-1104 does the actual work of assigning issues to a decider. Issues of law always go to the court — that half of the rule has no exception apart from a reference under § 25-1129, which lets certain matters be sent to a referee instead of decided by the judge directly.

The factual half of the rule is where the jury trial right lives. Issues of fact arising in actions for the recovery of money, or for the recovery of specific real or personal property, are tried by a jury. That covers a large share of ordinary civil litigation — a breach-of-contract claim seeking damages, a personal injury claim, a replevin action to recover a specific piece of property. The right is not absolute: a jury trial can be waived, and the matter can instead be referred for decision outside a jury setting.

Section 25-1104 works as a pair with § 25-1105. This section identifies the actions that get a jury by default — money claims and claims for specific property. Section 25-1105 catches everything else, sending those remaining factual issues to the court unless the judge chooses otherwise. Together the two sections form Nebraska’s basic map of who decides what at trial.