Definition of: assize

(ə·sīz′) noun
1. Originally, a session of a court.
2. plural a One of the regular sessions of the judges of a superior court for the trial of cases by jury in any county of England or Wales. b The time and place of such sessions.
3 a A judicial inquest. b The writ by which it is instituted. c An action to be decided by such an inquest.
4. In Scots law, a trial by jury; also, the jury.
5. A statute or ordinance, or a rule prescribed by law or authority, as for the regulation of weights and measures or prices of commodities, etc.
6. A standard of weight, measure, price, etc.
—grand assize In early English law, a trial by a jury of 12 knights instead of a trial by combat.
—great (or last) assize The Last Judgment. [<OF as(s)ise <aseeir sit at, settle <L assidere. See ASSESS.]