Assize Law and Legal Definition
In English law, Assize refers to an ancient court or a session of the court. It could also be decree or edict rendered at such a session. It derived its name from assideo, which means to sit together. It was a kind of jury before which no evidence was adduced. The verdict was regarded as statement of facts, which they knew of their own knowledge.
Assize also refers to a remedy for the restitution of a freehold, of which the complainant had been disseised. Assizes were of four kinds: Mort d'ancestor Novel Disseisin Darrien Presentment; and Utrum. This remedy has given way to others less perplexed and more expeditious.
Assizes refers to the periodic court sessions formerly held in each of the counties of England and Wales for the trial of civil or criminal cases. The time or place of such sessions was also called the same.
