assize

American  

[uh-sahyz] / əˈsaɪz /

noun

1. Usually assizes a trial session, civil or criminal, held periodically in specific locations in England, usually by a judge of a superior court.

2. an edict, ordinance, or enactment made at a session of a legislative assembly.

3. an inquest before members of a jury or assessors; a judicial inquiry.

4. an action, writ, or verdict of an assize.

5. judgment.

   the last assize; the great assize.

6. a statute for the regulation and control of weights and measures or prices of general commodities in the market.

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assize British  

/ əˈsaɪz /

noun

1. 1. a sitting of a legislative assembly or administrative body

   2. an enactment or order of such an assembly

2. English history a trial or judicial inquest, the writ instituting such inquest, or the verdict

3. Scots law

   1. trial by jury

   2. another name for jury 1

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Etymology

Origin of assize

1250–1300; Middle English asise < Old French: a sitting, noun use of feminine of asis seated at (past participle of aseeir ), equivalent to a- a- ⁵ + -sis < Latin sēssum ( sed- stem of sedēre to sit ¹ + -tus past participle suffix)

Example Sentences

Divorce proceedings were fixed for 27 October 1936 at Ipswich assize court.

From The Guardian • Dec. 22, 2019

Last week an assize court jury in Kingston took only ten minutes to find Johnson not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.

From Time Magazine Archive

The assize business is over, and there won't be much press for the next month or two.

From Mildred Arkell, Volume II (of 3) A Novel by Wood, Mrs. Henry

There are various old-time statutes of the assize of bread in London.

From England in the Days of Old by Andrews, William

When the matter comes to an assize or cognizance of a jury, they use to pack them for their purpose, and pick out such as they listed, who they think will not be bloody enough.

From A Hind Let Loose Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland for the Interest of Christ. With the True State Thereof in All Its Periods by Shields, Alexander