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ASSIZE

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 783 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASSIZE , or See also:

AssIsE (See also:Lat. assidere, to sit beside; O. Fr. assire, to sit, assis, seated), a legal See also:term, meaning literally a "session," but in fact, as See also:Littleton has styled it, a nomen aequivocum, meaning sometimes a See also:jury, sometimes the sittings of a See also:court, and' sometimes the ordinances of a court or See also:assembly. It originally signified the See also:form of trial by a jury of sixteen persons, which eventually superseded the barbarous judicial combat; this jury was named the See also:grand assize and was sworn to determine the right of See also:seisin of See also:land (see See also:EVIDENCE). The grand assize was abolished in 1833; but the term assize is still applicable to the jury in criminal causes in See also:Scotland. In the only sense in which the word is not now almost obsolete, assize means the periodical session of the See also:judges of the High Court of See also:Justice, held in the various counties of See also:England, chiefly for the purposes of See also:gaol delivery and trying causes at nisi prius. Previous to Magna Carta (Ins) writs of assize had all to be tried at See also:Westminster, or to await trial in the locality in which they had originated at the septennial See also:circuit of the justices in See also:eyre; but, by way of remedy for the See also:great consequent delay and inconvenience, it was provided by this celebrated See also:act that the assizes of snort d'ancestor and novel disseisin should be tried annually by the judges in every See also:county. By successive enactments, the See also:civil See also:jurisdiction of the justices of assize was extended, and the number of their sittings increased, till at last the See also:necessity of repairing to Westminster for See also:judgment in civil actions was almost obviated to See also:country litigants by an act, passed in the reign of See also:Edward I., which provided that the See also:writ summoning the jury to Westminster should also appoint a See also:time and See also:place for See also:hearing such causes within the county of their origin. The date of the alternative See also:summons to Westminster was always subsequent to the former date, and so timed as to fall in the vacation preceding the Westminster term; and thus " Unless before," or nisi prius, issues came to be dealt with by the judges of assize before the summons to Westminster could take effect. The nisi prius clause, however, was not then introduced for the first time. It occurs occasionally in writs of the reign of See also:Henry III. The royal commissions to hold the assizes are—(1) See also:general, (2) See also:special. The general See also:commission is issued twice a See also:year to the judges of the High Court of Justice, and two judges are generally sent on eachcircuit.

It covers commissions—(,) of oyer and terminer, by which they are empowered to See also:

deal with treasons, murders, felonies, &c. This is their largest commission ; (2) of nisi prius (q.v.); (3) of gaol delivery, which requires them to try every prisoner in gaol, for whatsoever offence committed; (4) of the See also:peace, by which all justices must be See also:present at their county assizes, or else suffer a See also:fine. Special commissions are granted for See also:inquest in certain causes and crimes. See also the articles CIRCUIT; JURY. Assizes, in the sense of ordinances or enactments of a court or See also:council of See also:state, as the " assize of See also:bread and See also:ale," the "assize of See also:Clarendon," the " assize of arms," are important in See also:early economic See also:history. As early as the reign of See also:John the observance of the assisae venalium was enforced, and for a See also:period of 500 years thereafter it was considered no unimportant See also:part of the duties of the legislature to regulate by fixed prices, for the See also:protection of the lieges, the See also:sale of bread, ale, See also:fuel, &c. (see See also:ADULTERATION). Sometimes in See also:city charters the right to assize such articles is specially conceded. Regulations of this description were beneficial in the repression of See also:fraud and adulteration. Assizes are sometimes used in a wider legislative connexion by early chroniclers and historians—the " assisae of the realme," e.g. occasionally meaning the organic See also:laws of the country. For the " assizes of See also:Jerusalem " see See also:CRUSADES. The term assize, originally applying to an assembly or court, became transferred to actions before the court or the writs by which they were instituted.

The following are the more important. Assize of darrien presentment, or last presentation, was a writ directed to the See also:

sheriff to summon an assize or jury. to enquire who was the last See also:patron that presented to a See also:church then vacant, of which the See also:plaintiff complained that he was deforced or unlawfully deprived by the See also:defendant. It was abolished in 1833 and the See also:action of quare impedit (q.v.) substituted. But by the See also:Common See also:Law See also:Procedure Act 186o, no quare impedit can be brought, so that an action in the' See also:king's See also:bench of the High Court was substituted for it. Assize of snort d'ancestor was a writ which See also:lay where a plaintiff complained of an " See also:abatement " or entry upon his See also:freehold, effected by a stranger on the See also:death of the plaintiff's See also:father, See also:mother, See also:brother, See also:sister, See also:uncle, aunt, &c. It was abolished in 1833. Assize of novel disseisin was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been " disseised " or dispossessed. It was abolished in 1833. See See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law. Assize, clerk of, an officer " who writes all things judicially done by the justices of assizes in their circuits." He has See also:charge of the commission, and takes recognizances, records, judgments and sentences, grants certificates of conviction, draws up orders, &c.

By the Clerks of Assize Act 1869 he must either have been for three years a See also:

barrister or See also:solicitor in actual practice, or have acted for three years in the capacity of subordinate officer of a clerk of assize on circuit. See also:United States.—There are no assize courts in the United States; it is not the See also:custom for supreme court judges of the states to go on circuit, but the judges of the United States Supreme Court do sit as members of the United States circuit courts in the several states periodically throughout the year. These courts are not assize courts, but are federal as distinguished from state courts, and have a special and limited jurisdiction. In the several states the highest court is divided into departments, in each of which there are courts presided over by supreme court judges residing in that See also:department, thus avoiding the assize court or circuit-, going See also:system.

End of Article: ASSIZE

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