Counsel's right to argument before a jury is preserved.
§ 8.01-379.Argument before jury.
Chapter 13. Certain Incidents of Trial · Last amended 1977 · Last verified July 16, 2026
In one sentenceThis section guarantees that counsel in a Virginia civil trial keeps the right to argue the case before the jury, protecting that stage of advocacy from being curtailed by a court’s scheduling preferences or trial management choices.
Full Text of § 8.01-379
Plain-English Summary
Section 8.01-379 is one sentence long, and it says one thing: counsel’s right to argument before a jury is preserved. Short as it is, the sentence answers a real question that used to come up in Virginia trial practice — whether a judge managing a crowded docket or a fast-moving trial could skip jury argument to save time.
By stating the right is preserved, the section forecloses that shortcut. Argument to the jury is not a courtesy a judge extends when time allows; it is a right counsel holds, and the trial has to make room for it. The provision does not spell out time limits, order of argument, or subject matter — those details are left to the trial court’s ordinary management of the proceeding — but it fixes the baseline that the opportunity to argue cannot be eliminated.
Read alongside the other trial-conduct provisions in this chapter, the section fits a broader pattern: Virginia law protects certain core pieces of a jury trial — argument, informing the jury of the amounts sought, proper instructions — as things a court manages but cannot dispense with.
Frequently Asked Questions
What right does this section protect?
Counsel’s right to argument before a jury.
Does the section set specific time limits for jury argument?
The text does not specify time limits, order, or content — it establishes only that the right to argue before the jury is preserved.
Can a trial court eliminate jury argument to save time?
No. The section preserves counsel’s right to argument before a jury, meaning it cannot be dispensed with.
Does this section apply to both plaintiff’s and defendant’s counsel?
The section refers to counsel’s right generally, without limiting it to one side of the case.
Is this section limited to closing argument?
The text refers broadly to “argument before a jury” without singling out a particular stage of trial.
Amendment History
1977, c. 617.
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Code of Virginia, published by the
Code of Virginia, Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Last verified July 16, 2026.
· Official source
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