From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Assize \As*size"\, noun [OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid?re to sit by; ad + sed[=e]re to sit. See {Sit}, {Size}, and cf. {Excise}, {Assess}.]
1. An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business. [Obs.]
2. (Law) (a) A special kind of jury or inquest. (b) A kind of writ or real action. (c) A verdict or finding of a jury upon such writ. (d) A statute or ordinance in general. Specifically: (1) A statute regulating the weight, measure, and proportions of ingredients and the price of articles sold in the market; as, the assize of bread and other provisions; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures. (e) Anything fixed or reduced to a certainty in point of time, number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.; as, rent of assize. --Glanvill. --Spelman. --Cowell. --Blackstone. --Tomlins. --Burrill.
Note: [This term is not now used in England in the sense of a writ or real action, and seldom of a jury of any kind, but in Scotch practice it is still technically applied to the jury in criminal cases. --Stephen. --Burrill. --Erskine.] (f) A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury. --Blackstone. --Wharton. --Encyc. Brit. (g) The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases; -- usually in the plural. --Brande. --Wharton. --Craig. --Burrill. (h) The time or place of holding the court of assize; -- generally in the plural, assizes.
3. Measure; dimension; size. [In this sense now corrupted into {size}.]
An hundred cubits high by just assize. --Spenser. [Formerly written, as in French, {assise}.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Assize \As*size"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Assized}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Assizing}.] [From {Assize}, noun: cf. LL. assisare to decree in assize. Cf. {Asses}, v.]
1. To assess; to value; to rate. [Obs.] --Gower.
2. To fix the weight, measure, or price of, by an ordinance or regulation of authority. [Obs.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the regulation of weights and measures of articles offered for sale
2: an ancient writ issued by a court of assize to the sheriff for the recovery of property
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