assize

Assize is a historical term referring to a session or sitting of a court, particularly in medieval and early modern England and its successors. The assize system originated in the English medieval period as itinerant or circuit courts, where Justices of Assize traveled from place to place to hear serious criminal cases. Each county would be visited on a schedule, with a panel of judges and juries convened to try felonies and, in some cases, civil matters. The word derives from Old French assise, meaning a sitting or sitting together, from Latin assidere, to sit down.

In practice, assizes operated on a rotating circuit, complemented by other local courts such as the Quarter Sessions. Over time, the organization and scope of criminal justice changed, and by the 19th and 20th centuries reform efforts increasingly centralized and standardized the system. In England and Wales, the assizes were eventually abolished and replaced by the Crown Court, a process completed by the Courts Act 1971.

Similar arrangements existed in Ireland while it was under English rule, with assizes functioning as the principal criminal courts on a regional basis until later reforms. The term also appears in broader historical use to denote an assessment, valuation, or fixed price regulation, such as the assize of bread and beer in medieval markets.

Today, the word survives primarily in historical discussions of English legal history and in the names of some former courts and legal constructs.