assize

n. [ OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid&unr_;re to sit by; ad + sedēre to sit. See Sit, Size, and cf. Excise, Assess. ] 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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. Glanvill. Spelman. Cowell. Blackstone. Tomlins. Burrill. [ 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. Stephen. Burrill. Erskine. ] (f) A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury. Blackstone. Wharton. Encyc. Brit. (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. Brande. Wharton. Craig. Burrill. (h) The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Measure; dimension; size. [ In this sense now corrupted into size. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

An hundred cubits high by just assize. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Formerly written, as in French, assise. ] [ 1913 Webster ]