Legal Definition and Related Resources of Assize

(Lat. assidere, to sit by or near, through the Fr. assisa, a session). In EngJIsh Law. A writ directed to the sheriff for the recovery of immovable property, corporeal or incorporeal. Cowell; Litt. § 234. The action or proceedings in court based upon such a writ. Magna Charta, c. 12; St. 13 Edw. I. (Westminster II.) c. 25; 3 Bl. Comm. 67, 262; Sellon, Prac. Introd. xii. Such actions were to be tried by special courts, of which the judicial officers were justices of assize. See “Courts of Assize and Nisi Prius.” This form of remedy is said to have been introduced by the parliament of Northampton (or Nottingham, A. D. 1176), for the purpose of trying titles to land in a more certain and expeditious manner before commissioners appointed by the crown than before the suitors in the county court or the king’s justiciars in the aula regis. The action is properly a mixed action, whereby the plaintiff recovers his land and damages for the injury sustained by the disseisin. The value of the action as a means for the recovery of land led to its general adoption for that purpose; those who had suffered injury not really amounting to a disseisin alleging a disseisin to entitle themselves to the remedy. The scope of the remedy was also extended so as to allow the recovery of incorporeal hereditaments, as franchises, estovers, etc. It gave place to the action of ejectment, and is now abolished, having been previously almost, if not quite, entirely disused. St. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 27, § 36. Steams, Real Actions, 187. A jury summoned by virtue of a writ of assize. The verdict or judgment of the jurors or recognitors of assize. 3 Bl. Comm. 57, 69. A court composed of an assembly of knights and other substantial men, with the baron or justice, in a certain place, at an appointed time. Grand Coutum, cc. 24, 25. An ordinance or statute. Litt. § 234; Reg. Orig. 239. Anything reduced to a certainty in respect to number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc. 2 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 42; Cowell; Spelman, “Assisa.” See the articles immediately following. In Scotch Law. The jury, consisting of fifteen men, in criminal cases tried in the court ot judiciary. Paterson, Comp.; Bell, Diet.

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This definition of Assize is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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English Legal System: Assize

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Assize :

1. An assize court or council. In modern times assizes were sittings of High Court judges travelling on circuits around the country with commissions from the Crown to hear cases. These commissions were either of oyer, terminer, and general gaol delivery, empowering the judges to try the most serious criminal cases, or of nisi prius, empowering them to try civil actions. These assizes were abolished by the Courts Act 1971, and the criminal jurisdiction of assizes was transferred to the Crown Court. At the same time, the High Court was empowered to hear civil cases anywhere in England and Wales without the need for a special commission

2. A statute or ordinance, e.g. the Assize of Clarendon, Novel Disseisi

Grammar

This term is a noun.

Etimology of Assize

(You may find assize at the world legal encyclopedia and the etimology of more terms).

session of a law court, c. 1300 (attested from mid-12c. in Anglo-Latin), from Old French assise “session, sitting of a court” (12c.), noun use of femenine past participle of asseoir “to cause to sit,” from Latin assidere/adsidere “to sit beside” (and thus to assist in the office of a judge), “sit with in counsel or office,” from ad “to” (see ad-) + sedere “to sit,” from PIE root *sed- (1) “to sit.” Originally “all legal proceedings of the nature of inquests or recognitions;” hence sessions held periodically in each county of England to administer civil and criminal justice.