assize (2), as sise, assyse, asi se, asyse, asyce

[In Ger. a isen; Fr. a ises (pl.), from a eoir = to make one sit down; O. Fr. a ise a set rate, a tax; a is = set, seated; a ire to set; Prov. asiza =(1) an a embly of judges, (2) a decision pronounced by them, (3) a tax; Low Lat. a isa, a isia; Cla . Lat. a e us a sitting by; a ideo to sit by: ad = to,. by, near, and sedeo = to sit.] A. Ordinary Language: I. A formal se ion or sitting; or in the pl., se ions or sittings specially for judicial purposes. 1. Literally : (a) In a general sense: A sitting for any purpose, as for worship, to hear confe ions, . "In daunger he hadde at his owne a ise The yonge gurles of the diocise." Chaucer: C. T., 665-6, In daunger is = under his jurisdiction. (b) ( Generally pl.): With the same signification as that given under B., II. 3. "Thenceforward his writs ran and his judges held a izes in every part of Ireland."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. 1. (c) The time or place of holding a judicial sitting. "The law was never executed by any justices of a ize; but the people left to their own laws."-Davies: Ireland. 2. Fig .: The last judgment. "The judging God shall close the book of fate, And there the last a izes keep, For those who wake and those who sleep." Dryden: Mrs. Kill i grew , 182. II. The result of such judicial or other sitting. *1. A statute. [B., II. 5.] "Bitokuen thine seuen wise, That han iwrowt ayen the a ise." Seuyn Sages , 2,490. ( Boucher .) *2. A judgment. [B., II. 5.] "Ur elder God did Jhesum rise, The quilc gie hang with fals asise ." MS. Coll. Med. Edin., H. iii. 12, 1. 125 b. (Boucher.) *3. A regulation. [B., II. 5.] "And on the same asise serued and allowed Of alle the franchise, that it are was dowed." Chron. of Rob. de Brunne , p. 77. ( Boucher .) "And after mete the lordys wyse, Eueryche yn dywers queyntyse, To daunce went by ryght asyse." Octouian, 81. ( Boucher.) * III. Things a igned; commodities. [B., II. 6.] "Whan ther comes marchaundise, With corn, wyn, and steil, othir other a ise, To heore lond any schip. A lisa under, 7,074. ( Boucher .) 340 IV. Their weight or measure; measurement, dimension. (Now contracted into SIZE.) [B., II. 6.] "Than was it schorter than the a ise. Thrise wroght thai with it on this wise." The Story of the Holy Rood (ed. Morris), 643, 644. "On high hill's top I saw a stately frame, An hundred cubits high, by just a ize, With hundred pills" Spetiser: Visions of Bellay, il. * V. Form, fashion. "So al watz dubbet on dere asyse ." E. Eng. Allit . Poems (ed. Morris), The Pearl, 97. * VI. Service. "That we may lere hym of lof, as oure lyste biddez, As in the asyse of Sodomas to seggez that pa en. E. Eng. Allit. Poems (ed. Morris); Cleanne , 843-4 B. Technically : I. Law & Government: An a embly of knights and other substantial men met at a certain place and time for the discharge of public busine . In this sense, the General Council or Witenagemot of England was called the General A ize. Glanvil, who wrote in the reign of Henry II., says it had never yet been ascertained by the general a ize or a embly, but was left to the custom of particular counties. (Black stone: Comm., bk. i., ch. 2.) II. Law : The 1. A jury, so called from their sitting together. Black stone thinks that jury was the original meaning of the word a ize . grand a ize , or grand jury, was instituted by Henry II., and might be appealed to by one who preferred it to trial by battle. ( Black stone: Comm., bk. iii., chaps. 10, 22, and 23.) 2. The court which summons together such a jury by a commi ion of a ize, or ad a isas capi end as . ( Ibid . , ch. 10.) 3. The sittings held, by the commi ion of the sovereign, at stated intervals, by one or more judges in the county towns of England, for the trial of civil and criminal cases. [See A., I., 1 (6).] The judges sit on such circuits by virtue of five authorities-the commi ion of the peace, that of oyer and terminer, that of general gaol delivery, that of a ize, and that of nisi prius. The foundation of the present system was laid by Magna Charta, and by the statute Westm. 2, 13 Edw. I., c. 30. The commi ion of a ize was so called because it was sent to take the verdict of a particular kind of a ize-that is, jury. ( Ibid . , bk. iii., chaps. 22, 23.) 4. An action at law for recovering the po e ion of lands. It is applicable to no more than two species of injury-by ouster, viz., abatement [ABATEMENT], and recent or novel di eisin. [DISSEISIN.] If the abatement happened upon the death of the demandant's father, mother, brother, sister, nephew, or niece, the remedy is by an a ize of mort d'ancestor; if by that of relatives different from these, then various other terms are applied to it. An a ize of novel di eisin that is, of recent di eisin-does not e entially differ from that now described. These actions were called writs of a ize. ( Ibid ., bk. iii., ch. 10.) A certificate of a ize was a second trial granted when a miscarriage of justice appeared to have occurred. ( Black stone : Comm., bk. iii., ch. 24.) 5. A statute or ordinance. [A., II., 1, 2, 3.] (a) In a general sense: A statute or ordinance of any kind. The a ize of arms was an enactment of Henry II. that each person should provide arms suitable to his rank, which on his death should descend to his son or other heir. The a ize of the forest meant rules for the management of the royal forests. Rents of a ize are certain established rents of the freeholders and ancient copyholders of a manor, which cannot be departed from or varied. They are also called quit -rents. [QUIT.] (Black stone: Comm., bk. ii., ch. 3.) (b) Spec.: An ordinance for regulating the measure and price of the articles sold in the market; also one for similarly fixing the standard weights and measures. To break the a ize of bread is to violate the laws regulating the sale of bread, as by using false weights or giving short weight. ( Black stone: Comm., bk. iv., c. 12.) 6. The articles officially weighed and measured; also the standard weights. [A., III., IV.j * III. Che : "The long a ise , apparently a term of che , now disused."- Sir W. Scott . "And sette he hath the long asise, And endred beth ther inne; The play biginneth to arise, Tristrem deleth atvinne. Sir Tristrem , F. J., st. xxx. (S. in Boucher .)