Assize
[ə'saɪz] or [ə'saɪzɪz]
Definition
(noun.) an ancient writ issued by a court of assize to the sheriff for the recovery of property.
(noun.) the regulation of weights and measures of articles offered for sale.
Checked by Basil--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) 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.
(n.) A special kind of jury or inquest.
(n.) A kind of writ or real action.
(n.) A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ.
(n.) 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.
(n.) Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize.
(n.) A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes.
(n.) Measure; dimension; size.
(v.) To assess; to value; to rate.
(v.) To fix the weight, measure, or price of, by an ordinance or regulation of authority.
Edited by Carmella
Definition
v.t. to assess: to set or fix the quantity or price.—n. a statute settling the weight measure or price of anything: (Scot.) a trial by jury the jury: judgment sentence the Last Judgment: (pl.) the sessions or sittings of a court held periodically in English counties at which causes are tried by judges of the High Court of Justice on circuit and a jury.—n. Assiz′er an officer who inspects weights and measures.
Typed by Elroy
Examples
- The assize of bread is, so far as I know, the only remnant of this ancient usage. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Such lawing also shall be done by the assize commonly used, and which is, that three claws shall be cut off without the ball of the right foot. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- If the country folks of those assize towns on his circuit could see him now! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Whether he could rush to the next assizes, and proclaim himself a lawyer? Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- You'll every one of you be hanged at the next assizes, if you don't mind, said Fred, who afterwards laughed heartily as he remembered his own phrases. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The season of the assizes approached. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The men tried at the assizes are not all over-religious, I suppose. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred to the Assizes. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- You are yourself aware that you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Assizes. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I give you my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the Assizes. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Checker: Marsha