Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A judicial inquest, the writ by which it is instituted, or the verdict of the jurors.
- noun A decree or edict rendered at such an inquest.
- noun One of the periodic court sessions formerly held in each of the counties of England and Wales for the trial of civil or criminal cases.
- noun The time or place of such sessions.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Originally, a sitting or session of a legislative body or court.
- noun Hence An edict, ordinance, or enactment made at such a session or sitting, or issued by such a body.
- noun A jury, or trial by jury: now used only in Scotland with reference to criminal causes. See
grand assize , below. - noun A name given to certain writs commanding juries to be summoned for the trial of causes: as, assize of novel disseizin, the ancient common-law remedy for the recovery of the possession of lands.
- noun The verdict of a jury in such a case.
- noun The periodical session held by royal commission by at least one of the judges of the superior courts directed to take the assizes or verdicts of a particular jury (anciently called the assize), in each of the counties of England and Wales (with the exception of London and the parts adjoining), for the purpose of trying issues nisi prius and jail-delivery for criminal cases: popularly called the assizes.
- noun In a more general sense, any court or session of a court of justice.
- noun Situation; place.
- noun Judgment: as, the last or great assize (that is, the last judgment or last day).
- noun Sometimes spelled
assise . - noun In geological classification, the French equivalent of the term bed, constituting one of the minor subdivisions in geology. An assize, or bed, is composed of two or more zones; two or more assizes, or beds, constitute a group, stage, or étage.
- In a general sense, to fix; appoint.
- To fix the rate of; assess, as taxes.
- To fix the weight, measure, or price of, by an ordinance or authoritative regulation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete 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.
- noun A special kind of jury or inquest.
- noun A kind of writ or real action.
- noun A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ.
- noun 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; ; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures.
- noun Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc..
- noun A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury.
- noun 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.
- noun The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural,
assizes . - noun Measure; dimension; size.
- transitive verb obsolete To assess; to value; to rate.
- transitive verb obsolete To fix the weight, measure, or price of, by an ordinance or regulation of authority.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
session orinquiry made before acourt orjury . - noun The
verdict reached orpronouncement given by a panel ofjurors .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the regulation of weights and measures of articles offered for sale
- noun an ancient writ issued by a court of assize to the sheriff for the recovery of property
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Our judges lie under no such restraint; for both they and the rest of the court make no difficulty of receiving _gloves_ from the sheriffs, whenever the session or assize concludes without any one receiving sentence of death, which is called a _maiden assize_; a custom of great antiquity.
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) Isaac Disraeli 1807
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Statute of Winchester (1285), in which it is enacted that "every man have in his house harness for to keep the peace after the ancient assize, that is to say, every man between fifteen years of age and sixty years."
Freedom In Service Six Essays on Matters Concerning Britain's Safety and Good Government 1907
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In 1262, being the 51st of Henry III. was revived an ancient statute, called the assize of bread and ale, which, the king says in the preamble, had been made in the times of his progenitors, some time kings of England.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1756
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The reports are in the National Archives, at Kew, south-west London, because they were given to assize judges on circuit, then taken to London.
The real Ophelia? 1569 coroner's report suggests Shakespeare link 2011
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The face in the sepia photograph is taut and strained, the glare fixed and defiant – for who knows the trials Mary Morrison had already undergone in life before her conviction at Manchester assize courts on 16 July 1883?
Records of Victorian women murderers and thieves placed online 2011
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I hold out the can to Ethelred the Cheap, a guy who's been banned from Ye Olde Friars Club for always deducting the assize from his bill before computing his tip.
At the Juvenile Bubonic Plague Telethon Con Chapman 2012
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The reports are in the National Archives, at Kew, south-west London, because they were given to assize judges on circuit, then taken to London.
The real Ophelia? 1569 coroner's report suggests Shakespeare link 2011
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The defendant also had to be imprisoned in a gaol at the victim's expense until an assize, where a judge of sufficient seniority could conduct a trial.
English Witchcraft Trials In Perspective Jack of Kent 2009
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The defendant also had to be imprisoned in a gaol at the victim's expense until an assize, where a judge of sufficient seniority could conduct a trial.
Archive 2009-08-01 Jack of Kent 2009
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The editorial writer in The Lancet of December 22, 1866 was scathing about Mr Brown and about The Times, calling, with vigorous irony, for a "grand assize of clitoridectomy" at which the lunatic asylums of Europe would be cleared by means of what Mr Baker Brown "with the pardonable pride of an inventor, calls my invention".
dailyword commented on the word assize
This word was often used the Jeremy Brett versions of the Sherlock Holmes adventures when their client was to appear before court.
June 9, 2012