Assise

I fr. Situated, v. Assisus.

See Assize.

Assize, [L. Fr. assise, assis; L. Lat. assisa, from assidere, to sit together, according to Coke; or from Fr. aseis, placed, §ut, settled, fixed, established, according to pelman.] In English law and practice. A species of jury, or inquest. Litt, sect. 284. A species of writ, or real action. Id. The proceedings in court upon a writ of assise. Co, Litt 159 b. The verdict or finding of the jury in a writ of assise. 8 Bl, Com, 6l. A court, or the sittings of a court. Spel" man. An onii DaQce, or statute. Id. Any thmg fixed, or reduced to a certsinty, in point of time, number, quantity, quahty, weight, measure, <fec. Id, A tax, or tribute. Id. A fine. Id, See Assisa, These various significations of the word asstM, which is called by Littleton (sect. 234) nomen cequivocum, will be considered more at large under the jfollowing heads. Assise. A species of jury; a certain number of men, usually twelve, summoned to try a cause, and who sat together for that purpose.* Co, Litt, 163. 3 Bl. Com. 185. ' Lord Coke derives the word, in this sense, from assidere, to sit together. Co, Litt. ub, sup. Spelman derives it from aisus, fixed or settled, because the number of jurors, which anciently was uncertain and indefinite, was, by the law establishing the assise, fixed and definedassisus et definitui); and in this he is supported by Skene. See Ersk, Inst. b. 4, tit. 4, § 92. The idea of certainty ialso prominently presented by the definition of the Grand Coustumier of Normandy, though it is a certamty of time and place, rather than of persons. " Assise is an assembly of knights and other substantial men, with the bailiff or justice, in a certain place, and at a certain time appointed." Grand Const, c. 24, cited in Cowell, Mr. Reeves, on the authority of Glanville, says a jury was called an assise from the assisa, or law by whjch the application of this trial was ordained. 1 BeevesHist. Eng. Law, 84. The assise y properly so called, was introduced by Henry II. as a substitute for the duellum or battel, and was established particularly for the trial of questions of seisin of land. Olanv. lib. 2, c. 7. It was otherwise termed recognition and the persons composing it recognitores, 1 Beeves* Hist. Eng, Law, 86. The common jury, jurata patrice, or inquisitio patrice,) had been previously in use, and was commonly resorted to as a mode of trial, in other instances than those provided for by the law of Henry II. Id. ibid. The distinction between an assise and fLJury is clearly drawn in the old books, and was a very common point of learning in the reign of Henry III. It was substantially this: — an assise was the regular mode of trying the main issue in questions of seisin; Kjury was used to determine any incidental question arising in the cause, upon which issue might be taken, as where an exception was taken by the tenant out of the assise, as it was called. Thus, if the tenant at once denied that he had committed any disseisin, be simply put himself upon the assise, and the assise proceeded, as they 14 called it, in modum assises, (in the ordinary manner of an assise), that is, upon the simple question of disseisin. Bract, fol. 184 b, 215. But if the tenant took an exception upon some collateral matter, as if he offered the common exception or plea that the demandant or plaintiff was a villein, this question was not triable by the assise, but by a common jury. Id, fol. 1 92 b, 2 1 5. It became, however, the practice to allow the assise itself to discharge the office of a jury in such cases, and it was then said, assisa cadit, or vertitur injuratam, the assise falls or is turned into a jury, or assisa capta est in modum juratce, et non in modum assises; the assise is taken like a jury, and not like an assise. Id, fol. 192 b, 210 b, 215, 283. Assises were of two kinds, grand and petite. See Grand assise, Petite assise. In Scotch law, the jury in criminal cases is still technically called the assise, Ersk, Inst. b. 4, tit. 4, § 92. P, Cyclopoedia. But in England, assisein the sense of a jury of any kind, has become obsolete. Assise. A species of writ, or real action, said to have been invented by Glanville, chief justice to Henry II., and having for its object to determine the right of possession of lands, and to recover the possession. 3 Bl, Com, 184, 185. According to Lord Coke, assises were used in England, time out of mind. 3 Co, pref. v. vi. This remedy, however, was only applicable to two species of injury by ouster, viz., abatement, and a recent, or novel disseisin. 3 Bl, Com, 185. The principal assises were those of novel disseisin, mort d*ancestor, darrein jpresentment, and utrum. See infra. These writs, according to Littleton, were called assises, because by them the sheriff was ordered to summon a jury or assise, which was not expressed in any other original writ. Litt, sect. 234. Co, Litt, 154 b, 1 59. Cowell suggests three other reasons: first, because they settled the possession; secondly, because they were originally executed at a certain time and place, formerly appointed; and lastly, because they were tried most commonly by special courts *e< and appointed for that purpose. Assises have been abolished in England with other real actions. Assise. The whole proceedings in court upon a writ of assise. Co. Litt, 159 b. The verdict or finding of thjury upon such a writ. 3 Bl, Com, 57. These significations serve to explain the expression " to take the assises," ad assisas capiendas), which is so common m the old books and statutes. Blackstone construes the expression '' to take recognitions or assises/' used in Magna Charta, (c. 12,) to mean, "to take (or receive the verdict of the jurors or recognitors in certain actions then called) rcognitions or assises." 3 BL Com, 57. See Id. 59, 352. Assise, Assize, A court, the sittings of a court. This is an ancient sense of the word. Ghrand Coustum, Korm, c. 65, cited m Cowell Bract, fol. 179. Reg. Grig. 197 b. Spelman. Assise (now usually written assize,) is still used in England to denote the sessions of the judges of the superior courts, holden periodically in each county for the purpose of adnunistering civil and criminal justice. See Assises, Assise. An ordinance, statute or regulation. Spelman gives this meaning of the word the first place among his definitions, observing that statutes were in England called assises down to the reign of Henry