a technical English law word, derived through the old Norman phraseology from the same source as the French asser, enough. Assets are real or personal. Where a man hath lands in fee-simple, and dies seised thereof, the lands which come to his heirs are assets real; and where he dies possessed of any personal estate, the goods which come to the executors are assets personal.

CHASIDANS, or Chasidians (from the Hebrew chasidim, merciful, pious), those Jews who resorted to Matthias the father of the Maccabees, to fight for the law of God and the liberties of their country. After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, there were two sorts of men in their church,—those who contented themselves with that obedience only which was prescribed by the law of Moses, and who were called Zadikim, i.e., the righteous,—and those who, over and above the law, superadded the constitutions and traditions of the elders, and other rigorous observances; these latter were called Chassidim, i.e., the pious. From the former sprang the Samaritans, Sadducees, and Caraites; from the latter the Pharisees and the Essenes. See 1st Macc. ii. vii.; 2d Macc. xiv. The name of Chasidim has also been assumed by a Jewish sect which originated in Poland about a century ago, and still exists.