assize

n. court of law; session in a court of law; judgment of a court of law; setting of weights and measures (Archaic)

The Courts of Assize, or Assizes, is the name of criminal courts in several countries. In France, Belgium and Italy the court is still in use. The Assizes is the highest court. The word assize refers to the sittings or sessions (Old French assises) of the judges, known as "justices of assize".
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Noun
1. the regulation of weights and measures of articles offered for sale
(hypernym) regulation, ordinance
2. an ancient writ issued by a court of assize to the sheriff for the recovery of property
(hypernym) writ, judicial writ
(classification) law, jurisprudence

(v.)
To fix the weight, measure, or price of, by an ordinance or regulation of authority.
  

(v.)
To assess; to value; to rate.
  

(n.)
The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes.
  

(n.)
The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases; -- usually in the plural.
  

(n.)
Measure; dimension; size.
  

(n.)
Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize.
  

(n.)
An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business.
  

(n.)
A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ.
  

(n.)
A statute or ordinance in general. Specifically: (1) A statute regulating the weight, measure, and proportions of ingredients and the price of articles sold in the market; as, the assize of bread and other provisions; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures.
  

(n.)
A special kind of jury or inquest.
  

(n.)
A kind of writ or real action.
  

(n.)
A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury.
  

ASSIZE - Eng. Law. This was the name of an ancient court; it derived its name from assideo, to sit together. It was a kind of jury before which no evidence was adduced, their verdict being regarded as a statement of facts, which they knew of their own knowledge.

The name of assize was also given to a remedy for the restitution of a freehold, of which the complainant had been disseised. Assizes were of four kinds: Mort d'ancestor Novel Disseisin Darrien Presentment; and Utrum. This remedy has given way to others less perplexed and more expeditious.

The final judgment for the plaintiff in an assize of Novel Disseisin, is, that he recover per visum recognitorum, and it is sufficiently certain. if the recognitors can put the demandant in possession. In this action, the plaintiff cannot be compelled to be nonsuited.

There is, however, in this class of actions, an interlocutory judgment, or award in the nature of a judgment, and which to diverse intents and purposes, is a judgment like the judgment of quod computet, in account render; or quod partitio flat, in partition; quod mensuratio fiat; ouster of aid; award of a writ of inquiry, in waste.; of damages in trespass; upon these and the like judgments, a writ of error does not lie.

ASSIZES - Obs.Fr. The laws imposed by the king with the consent of his nobles; the codification of laws, or a type of law court that ruled on customary law.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.