ASSIZE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Assize

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noun

Assize n.

1.

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. (Obs.)

2.

(Law)

(a)

A special kind of jury or inquest.

(b)

A kind of writ or real action.

(c)

A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ.

(d)

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.

(e)

Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize. Note: (This term is not now used in England in the sense of a writ or real action, and seldom of a jury of any kind, but in Scotch practice it is still technically applied to the jury in criminal cases.)

(f)

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

(g)

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.

(h)

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

3.

Measure; dimension; size. (In this sense now corrupted into size) "An hundred cubits high by just assize." (Formerly written, as in French, assise)

verb

Assize v. t. (past & past part. assized; pres. part. assizing)

1.

To assess; to value; to rate. (Obs.)

2.

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

See images of 'Assize'

Etymology of 'Assize'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Assize" Quotes from Famous Books

... mis-government and illegality. In the movement, which resulted in the governor's recall and impeachment, there was doubtless the usual amount of exaggeration—represented by the violent language of one of Carlyle's minor biographers: "There were more innocent people slain than at Jeffreys' Bloody Assize"; "The massacre of Glencoe was nothing to it"; "Members of Christian Churches were flogged," etc. etc.—but among its leaders there were so many men of mark and celebrity, men like John S. Mill, T. Hughes, ...

— Thomas Carlyle - Biography • John Nichol

... Parliament of Inverness that there occurred at Edinburgh one of the most curious and picturesque scenes that it is possible to imagine. One of the chiefs tried at that assize was the greatest and most important of all, the Lord of the Isles, sometimes called Donald and sometimes Alexander by the chroniclers, who on his promise to amend his ways, and no longer harbour caterans or head forays, was, no doubt out of respect for his almost princely position, set at ...

— Royal Edinburgh - Her Saints, Kings, Prophets and Poets • Margaret Oliphant

... December, in the present year, the three acts of last session; for prohibiting the exportation of corn; for prohibiting the distillation of spirits; and for allowing the importation of corn, duty free. A second law was established, regulating the price and assize of bread, and subjecting to severe penalties those who should be concerned in its adulteration. In consequence of certain resolutions taken in a committee of the whole house, a bill was presented for prohibiting the payment of the bounty upon the exportation of corn, ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... Prince Edward county? Of course you know that it was set off in 1833, and that the first Court of Assize was held in this town— then Hallowell—in 1834. I am not able to say much about its early history; though I am sure there are many incidents of very great interest connected with it, probably lost ...

— Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago • Canniff Haight

... heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that thought on "his name." Zion is said to be "graven on the palms of his hands"—The saints to be written "in the book of life—The dead to be judged out of the things written in the books" which will be opened at the grand assize when the world will be judged ...

— Sermons on Various Important Subjects • Andrew Lee

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