assizes

UK: /əˈsaɪzɪz/ US: /əˈsaɪzəz/

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

assizes / əˈsaɪzɪz/ noun:plural

1. (formerly in England and Wales) the sessions, usually held four times a year, of the principal court in each county, exercising civil and criminal jurisdiction, attended by itinerant judges: replaced in 1971 by crown courts

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

as•sizes /əˈsaɪzəz/   n. [plural]

1. Law (in England) trial sessions held regularly by a high court.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

as•size  (ə sīz′), n. 

1. Law Usually, assizes. a trial session, civil or criminal, held periodically in specific locations in England, usually by a judge of a superior court.
2. Law an edict, ordinance, or enactment made at a session of a legislative assembly.
3. Law an inquest before members of a jury or assessors;
   a judicial inquiry.
4. Law an action, writ, or verdict of an assize.
5. judgment:
   the last assize; the great assize.
6. Lawmaking a statute for the regulation and control of weights and measures or prices of general commodities in the market.

• Latin sēssum (sed- stem of sedēre to sit + -tus past participle suffix)
• Old French: a sitting, noun, nominal use of feminine of asis seated at (past participle of aseeir), equivalent. to a- a-⁵ + -sis
• Middle English asise 1250–1300