assizes

British  

/ əˈsaɪzɪz /

plural noun

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

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Example Sentences

Down to the Toulouse assizes last week he hauled the family nurse and governess, Sister Madeleine, a Dominican nun.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Ipswich assizes open this week but those at Norwich opened last week, with Sir John presenting his traditional spectacle of royal pomp.

From Time Magazine Archive

The county is in the south-eastern circuit, and assizes are held at Huntingdon.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux" by Various

The representations made by the magistrates at the last assizes will be sufficient testimony up to that time; and since then, you cannot say that you deserve any defence.

From The History of Margaret Catchpole A Suffolk Girl by Cobbold, Richard

Mary Spencer, a young woman of twenty, said that Robinson cherished much ill-feeling against her parents, who had been convicted of witchcraft at the last assizes, and had since died.

From Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)