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Glite Dictionary
assizes

assizes

1 9.9
Regular criminal courts held in English counties before 1971
  • noun
  • /əˈsaɪzɪz/
  • Archaic
translation icon : asientos
  • The Assizes, she remembered, met sometime in the middle of July.

Examples

  • Lancaster Assizes hanged more people than any other court in the land, except for London.

    The Railway Man (2013)

  • It was a bad slip to make when trying to convince Bel Innkeeper to find me space in a town already filled to bursting for the Assizes.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • " You will both be taken to Maidstone for trial at the summer Assizes.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The chief prosecutor at the "Bloody Assizes" was Sir Henry Pollexfen, who was "a leading member of the committee that drafted the Bill of Rights."

    Academic text (2004)

  • The case against the accused will be decided during the next assizes in July.

  • Historically, the assizes were held in various counties to ensure justice was served.

  • She attended the assizes to witness the trial of the infamous criminal.

Synonyms

court of assize
vsassizes
  • Archaic
9.9

A former county court in England and Wales for serious criminal cases

is the periodic system of county criminal hearings replaced in 1971
court of assize and nisi prius
vsassizes
  • Archaic
9.9

A former county court in England that heard serious criminal and civil trials

covers periodic criminal hearings rather than civil matters
eyre
vsassizes
  • Archaic
9.9

A traveling court where judges visit towns to hear cases about the law

is the later periodic county criminal system rather than a medieval traveling circuit

Surface Forms

assizes plural

Etymology

The word assizes comes from the Latin assidere, which means 'to sit'. It was used for the 'sittings' when judges traveled the counties to hold court, so assizes were the regular courts where judges sat to try serious crimes.