Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - assize

 noun  Etymology: Middle English assise, from Anglo-French, session, legal action, from asseer, asseoir to seat, from Vulgar Latin *assedere, from Latin assidere to sit beside, assist in the office of a judge, from ad- + sedere to sit — more at sit  Date: 14th century  1.  a. a judicial inquest  b. an action to be decided by such an inquest, the writ for instituting it, or the verdict or finding rendered by the jury  2.  a. the former periodical sessions of the superior courts in English counties for trial of civil and criminal cases — usually used in plural  b. the time or place of holding such a court, the court itself, or a session of it — usually used in plural