in old English law-books, is defined to be

an assembly of knights, and other substantial men, to-

gether with a justice, in a certain place, and at a cer-

tain time: but the word, in its present acceptation, im-

plies a court, place, or time, when and where the writs

and proceedings, whether civil or criminal, are decided by

judge and jury.

All the counties of England are divided into six cir-

cuits; and two judges are assigned by the king's com-

mission, who hold their assizes twice a year in every

county (except London and Middlesex), where courts

of nisi prius are held in and after every term, be-

fore the chief or other judge of the several superior

courts; and except the four northern counties, where

the assizes are taken only once a-year) to try by a jury

of the respective counties the truth of such matters of

fact as are then under dispute in the courts of Weft-

minster hall. These judges of assize came into use in

the room of the ancient justices in eyre, justiciarii in

itineri; who were regularly established, if not first ap-

pointed, by the parliament of Northampton, A.D.

1176, 22 Hen. II. with a delegated power from the

king's great court or aula regia, being looked upon as

members thereof: and they afterwards made their cir-

cuit round the kingdom once in seven years for the pur-

pose of trying causes. They were afterwards directed

by magna charta, c. 12, to be sent into every county

once a year to take or try certain actions then called

recognitions or assizes; the most difficult of which they

are directed to adjourn into the court of common pleas

to be there determined. The itinerant justices were

sometimes mere justices of assize, or of dower, or of

gaol-delivery, and the like; and they had sometimes

a more general commission, to determine all manner of

causes, justiciarii ad omnia placita: but the present

justices of assize and nisi prius are more immediately

derived derived from the statute Westm. 2. 13 Edw. I. c. 30. explained by several other acts, particularly the statute 14 Edw. III. c. 16, and must be two of the king's justices of the one bench or the other, or the chief baron of the exchequer, or the king's sergeants sworn. They usually make their circuits in the respective vacations after Hilary and Trinity terms; assizes being allowed to be taken in the holy time of Lent by consent of the bishops at the king's request, as expressed in statute Westm. 1. 3 Edw. I. c. 51. And it was also usual, during the times of Popery, for the prelates to grant annual licenses to the justices of assize to administer oaths in holy times; for oaths being of a sacred nature, the logic of those deluded ages concluded that they must be ecclesiastical cognizance. The prudent jealousy of our ancestors ordained, that no man of law should be judge of assize in his own county; and a similar prohibition is found in the civil law, which has carried this principle so far, that it is equivalent to the crime of sacrilege for a man to be governor of the province in which he was born, or has any civil connexion.

The judges upon their circuits now sit by virtue of five several authorities. 1. The commission of the peace in every county of the circuit: and all justices of the peace of the county are bound to be present at the assizes; and sheriffs are also to give their attendance on the judges, or they shall be fined. 2. A commission of oyer and terminer, directed to them and many other gentlemen of the county, by which they are empowered to try treasons, felonies, &c. and this is the largest commission they have. 3. A commission of general gaol-delivery, directed to the judges and the clerk of assize associate, which gives them power to try every prisoner in the gaol committed for any offence whatsoever, but none but prisoners in the gaol; so that one way or other they rid the gaol of all the prisoners in it. 4. A commission of assize, directed to the judges and clerk of assize, to take assizes; that is, to take the verdict of a peculiar species of jury called an assize, and summoned for the trial of landed disputes. The other authority is, 5. That of nisi prius, which is a consequence of the commission of assize being annexed to the office of those justices by the statute of Westm. 2. 13 Edw. I. c. 30. And it empowers them to try all questions of fact issuing out of the courts of Westminster, that are then ripe for trial by jury. The original of the name is this; all causes commenced in the courts of Westminster-hall are by the course of the courts appointed to be there tried, on a day fixed in some Easter or Michaelmas term, by a jury returned from the county wherein the cause of action arises; but with this proviso, nisi prius justiciarii ad assizes capiendas venerint, unless before the day prefixed the judges of assize come into the county in question. This they are sure to do in the vacations preceding each Easter and Michaelmas term, and there dispose of the cause; which saves much expense and trouble, both to the parties, the jury, and the witnesses.

The word assize (from the French assise, seated, settled, or established, and formed of the Latin verb assidere, "I sit by") is used in several different senses. It is sometimes taken for the sitting of a court; sometimes for its regulations or ordinances, especially those that fix the standard of weights and measures; and sometimes it signifies a jury, either because juries consisted of a fixed determinate number, or because they continued sitting till they pronounced their verdict. In Scots law, an assize or jury consists of 15 sworn men (juratores), picked out by the court from a great number, not exceeding 45, who have been summoned for that purpose by the sheriff, and given in a list to the defender, at serving him with a copy of his libel.