301 



ASSEMBLY ASSESSOR. 



tin- same individual is presented to a Ijpnefice. The 

 trial and indiiciion of schoolmasters is, in like man- 

 ner, entrusted to the presbyteries ; and there are 

 many other subject- which fall under their cogni/.ance, 

 which it is not necessary to specify particularly. In 

 general, their jurisdiction extends lo everything in 

 which the edification of the morals of the people, the 

 conduct of their parochial instructors, or the disci- 

 pline of the church, is concerned. The sentences and 

 proceedings of the presbytery, which, like the kirk- 

 n, is always a court of record, are subject to 

 (lie n-view of the immediate superior court, the synod, 

 iM'fore which they can be brought (a tho-e of the 

 kirk-session before the presbytery) by reference, com- 

 plaint, or appeal : ami there they may be affirmed, re- 

 ver-ed. or altered. The presbytery has besides a civil 

 jurisdiction, in questions which relate, to ecclesiastical 

 oenefices, to the designation or exchange of parochial 

 glebes, to the building or repairing of churches or 

 manses, (parsonage houses,) and in a few other cases. 

 Hut in all such civil questions, an appeal is compe- 

 tent from their decisions, in the form of a suspension 

 or advocation, not to the superior ecclesiastical courts, 

 but to the court of session. The forms of proceed- 

 ing in the presbytery are prescribed by statute, or 

 are ascertained by use and precedent. The Synod is 

 the court of review immediately above the presby- 

 tery, and consists of all the ministers and elders who 

 stand on the roll, as constituent members, of so many 

 contiguous presbyteries, which are placed under its 

 provincial jurisdiction. Its meeting are generally 

 held twice, though in some remote districts only once, 

 in every year. Every ecclesiastical question, which 

 has been under the consideration of a presbytery, 

 within the provincial district, may be competently 

 brought under the review of the synod, in the man- 

 ner already explained, with regard to the review of 

 the sentences of kirk-sessions by the presbyteries. 

 The synod has, besides, an original jurisdiction, as 

 well on subjects of general interest, as with regard to 

 the conduct of its own members, and can both give 

 authoritative directions to the presbyteries, and origi- 

 nate propositions to the general assembly, on any 

 subject which seems to require its influence or autho- 

 rity. On the other hand, every judgment of a synod, 

 as an inferior court, may be brought under the review 

 of the general assembly by reference, complaint, or 

 appeal. But in every question, not carried to the 

 courts of review, the judgment of the presbytery or 

 synod (if they have not gone beyond their jurisdic- 

 tion) is final ; and it is as completely authoritative as 

 the sentences of the supreme court. The General 

 Ast'-mbly is the supreme ecclesiastical court. It con- 

 sists of delegates from every presbytery, university, 

 and royal burgh, in Scotland. It has the countenance 

 of a representative of the king, styled the Lord High 

 Commissioner, who is always a nobleman ; and hold- 

 ing its meeting annually, and (according to the present 

 practice) in the month of May, it usually continues 

 to sit for twelve days. In its judicial capacity, as ft 

 court of review, and as the court of last resort, the 

 general assembly lias a right to determine finally 

 every question brought from the inferior courts, by 

 reference, complaint, or appeal. And it possesses, 

 besides, such a general superintendence of the dis- 

 cipline of the church, of the management of the 

 inferior courts, of the conduct of the clergy, and ot 

 the morals of the people, that it has authority to go 

 beyond the record in any particular case ; to redress 

 a wrong which appears to have been done, or to 

 apply the church discipline, which has either been 

 neglected by the inferior courts, or which the circum- 

 stances of the case appear to require. But to do 

 this regularly, the parties interested must be legally 

 cited, if they were not before at the bar. In these. 



general views of its indicative capacity, the authority 

 ested in the general assembly, is of equal importance 

 to the prosperity of the kingdom, to the permaneu 

 nterests of religion, and to the usefulness and respec- 

 tability of the clergy. The legislative authority ot the 

 ^ener.il assembly has as extensive effects as its judi- 

 ial functions. It has the power of enacting stat'ntes, 

 with regard to every subject of ecclesiastical cognis- 

 ance ; which are equally binding, as permanent laws, 

 >n the assembly itself, on the inferior courts, and on 

 the individual members of the church. Hut the 

 ] lower of legislation is not committed to the general 

 issembly, without limitation. By an act ot assembly 

 n 1697, (which was not passed into a law, till it hae. 

 been transmitted to the several prcsbyterii s, and had 

 received their .sanction, and which, from its substance 

 mil design, has obtained the name of the Harrier Act,) 

 every proposition for a new law, must first be con- 

 sidered in the form of an overture, either originating 

 in the assembly itself, or suggested to the assembly 

 l>y the inferior judicatures. Though it should be 

 approved of by the assembly, it cannot be enacted 

 into a statute, till it has been first transmitted to the 

 several presbyteries of the church, tor their consider- 

 ation, and has received the sanction of, at least, a 

 majority of the presbyteries. The laws which are 

 enacted by the assembly, after receiving this sanction, 

 are the established and permanent statutes of the 

 church, by which every thing belonging to the 

 ecclesiastical state, or to the church courts, is autho- 

 ritatively regulated. See Scotland, Church of. 



ASSENT, THE ROYAL, is the approbation given by 

 the king in parliament to a bill which has j 

 both houses'; after which it becomes a law. The 

 royal assent may be given in two ways : 1. In per- 

 son ; when the king comes to the house of p< cix 

 and, the commons being sent for, and standing at 

 the bar, the titles of all the bills that have \ 

 both houses are read, and the king's answer is de- 

 clared by the clerk of the, parliament in Norman- 

 French, with several singular ceremonies. If the 

 king consents to a public bill, the clerk usually de- 

 clares Le roi le veut (The king wills it) ; if to a pri- 

 vate bill, Soft fail com me il est desire (Be it as de- 

 sired). If the king refuses his assent, it is in the 

 gentle phrase, Le roi s'avisera (The king will con- 

 sider of it). When a money-bill, or bill of supply, 

 is passed, it is carried up and presented to the king 

 by the speaker of the house of commons, and the 

 royal assent is thus expressed Le roi remercie ses 

 loyal suj'ets, accepte leur benevolence, et aussi le veut 

 (The king thanks his loyal subjects, accepts their 

 benevolence, and wills it also). 2. By the statute 

 33 Hen. VII!., ch. 21, the king may give his assent 

 by letters patent, under his great seal, signed with 

 his hand, and notified in his absence to both houses, 

 assembled together in the upper house. When the 

 president of the United States approves a bill passed 

 in both houses, he writes under it Approved, with his 

 name. See Sanction. 



ASSER, John, or Asserius Menevensis, that is, Asser 

 of St David's ; a learned British ecclesiastic, distin- 

 guished as the instructor, companion, and biographer 

 of Alfred the Great. He was appointed abbot by 

 Alfred of two or three different monasteries, and at 

 'ast promoted to the episcopal see of Sherburn, 

 where he died in the year 910. He wrote the life 

 of Alfred, which was first published at the end of 

 Parker's edition of Walsingham's History, London, 

 1574. and afterwards' in Camden's Historical Collec- 

 tion, at Frankfort. A separate edition was published 

 at Oxford in 1722. 



ASSESSOR, in Scottish law ; a person who sits along 

 with the judges in the inferior courts in Scotland, 

 and with his professional knowledge assists in the 





