ASSETS ASSIZES. 



305 



decisions pronounced. Assessors are generally select- 

 ed from the Faculty of Advocates. 



ASSETS (Fr. assez, i. e. satis). Goods enough to 

 discliarge the burden which is cast upon the executor 

 or heir, by satisfying the debts and legacies of the 

 testator or ancestor. Assets are real or personal. 

 Where a man holds lands in fee-simple, and dies 

 possessed thereof, the lands which come to his heirs 

 are assets real ; and when he dies possessed of any 

 personal estate, the goods which come to the execu- 

 tors are assets personal. 



ASSIEXTO (Spanish, for treaty) ; the permission of 

 the Spanish government to a foreign nation to import 

 negro slaves from Africa into the Spanish colonies 

 in America, for a limited time, on payment of cer- 

 tain duties. Philip IV. and Charles II. concluded a 

 treaty of this sort with the people of England and 

 Holland. The English were the sole possessors of 

 this assiento till 1701. They lost it when Philip V. 

 of Anjou ascended the throne of Spain ; but, in 1702, 

 the French Guinea company, who afterwards assumed 

 the title of the assiento company, became possessed 

 of this privilege for ten years, within which period 

 they were permitted to import yearly 4800 slaves, of 

 both sexes, into the mainland and islands of Spanish 

 America. In 1713, the celebrated assiento treaty 

 with Britain, for thirty years, was concluded at 

 Utrecht; (Great Britain afterwards gave up the 

 trade to the South sea company). By this contract, 

 (Jie British, among other privileges, obtained the 

 right of sending a permission or assiento ship, so 

 called, of 500 tons, every year, with all sorts of mer- 

 chandise, to the Spanish colonies. This led to fre- 

 quent abuses and contraband trade ; acts of violence 

 followed, and, in 1739, a war broke out between the 

 two powers. At the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 

 1 748, four years more were granted to the British ; 

 but in the treaty of Madrid, two years later, 100,000 

 pounds sterling were promised for the relinquishinent 

 of the two remaining years ; and the contract was 

 annulled. 



ASSIGNAT ; the name of the national paper currency 

 in the time of the French revolution. Four hundred 

 millions of this paper money were first struck off by 

 the constituent assembly, with the approbation of the 

 king, April 19, 1790, to be redeemed with the pro- 

 ceeds of the sale of the confiscated goods of the 

 church. August 27th of the same year, Mirabeau 

 urged the issuing of 2000 millions of new assignats, 

 which caused a dispute in the assembly. Vergasse 

 and Dupont particularly distinguished themselves as 

 the opponents of Mirabeau. They saw that the plan 

 was an invention of Claviere (of whose work the 

 speecli of Mirabeau was only an extract), to enrich 

 himself and his adherents ; that it would tend to put 

 the rich usurers in possession of the wealth of the 

 nation, which would be insufficient to redeem the 

 assignats, particularly if they were increased. Among 

 other arguments, Mirabeau maintained the expedi- 

 ency of the measure he proposed, on the ground tliat 

 the holders of assignats would necessarily support 

 the new constitution, which was the only guarantee 

 for the redemption of the assignats. His exertions 

 were seconded by Pethion, and 800 millions more 

 were issued. They were increased, by degrees, to 

 40,000 millions, and the currency, after a while, be- 

 came of no value. A further account of this paper 

 money is given in the article Mandate. 



ASSIGNATION ; a Russian paper money, used since 

 1709. Its loss of value, since 1787, has diminished 

 the worth of rubles. Regularly, under the term 

 ruble, is understood assignation-nihle. There are 

 assignations of 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 rubles. In 

 1809, four rubles-assignation were paid for one ruble 

 silver money. The value fluctuated till IS 18, when 



the silver ruble was fixed at 375 kopecks ; in 1825, 

 it stood at 372 kopecks. 



ASSIGNEE ; a person appointed by another to trans- 

 act some business, or exercise some particular privi 

 lege or power. The term is most commonly applied 

 to the creditor of a bankrupt appointed to manage 

 for the rest of the creditors, and who has the bank- 

 rupt's estate assigned over to him. 



ASSINIBOIN ; a large river of North America, in the 

 United States and the British territories. It flows 

 into the south end of lake Winnipeg. It is formed 

 by two rivers, which unite about fifty miles from the 

 lake. The eastern branch, called Red river, rises 

 near the head waters of the Mississippi. The wes- 

 tern branch, the Assiniboin proper, rises about Ion. 

 104 W., lat. 52 N. Both are navigable for canoes 

 to their source. The country between these rivers, 

 and to the south, is a continued plain, with little 

 wood ; the soil, sand, and gravel producing a short 

 grass. The north-west company have several trad- 

 ing establishments on the A. 



ASSINIBOINS ; an Indian tribe, in the western part 

 of N. America, on the Assiniboin river near the 

 Rocky mountains. Their number is said to be 4200. 



ASSINT; an extensive parish in Sutherlandshire, 

 Scotland, situated on the Minsh Channel in the North 

 Sea, having two or three good harbours, and including 

 a number of islands. The coast presents a succession 

 of high and broken precipices, while the surface, 

 equally romantic, exhibits a wild confusion of lofty 

 mountains, masses of barren rock, heaths, mosses, 

 lakes, and rivers, with here and there a cairn or Druid- 

 ical temple to complete the scene. Here are quarries 

 of beautiful white nimble and limestone, which, with 

 rearing cattle and fishing afford employment to the in- 

 habitants, who are all connected by alliance. Songs in 

 praise of Fingal and his heroes are still chaunted here 

 in the Gaelic tongue, to the airs of which children are 

 early taught to dance. This district was formerly a 

 forest of the ancient Thanes of Sutherland. Popula- 

 tion, 3161. 



ASSISI ; a small town in the papal dominions, 20 

 miles from Spoleto, on a hill, in one of the most 

 charming parts of Italy. It is the see of a bishop. 

 It is famous as the birth-place of St Francis d'Assisi, 

 and for the splendid church built Over the chapel 

 where St Francis received his first impulse to devo- 

 tion. This church is one of the finest remains of the 

 architecture of the middle ages in the Gothic style. 



ASSIZES ; I., the name given in France and in Lower 

 or Norman Italy, to assemblies which were common 

 in the middle ages, and to the courts for the administra- 

 tion of justice to vassals and freemen. After Godfrey 

 of Boulogne had taken J erusalem, in 1099, he adopt- 

 ed, for his two courts of justice, a code of laws drawn 

 from the ordinances established in these assemblies : 

 hence this remarkable collection was styled Assises 

 de Jerusalem (French edition by La Thoumassiere, 

 Bourges, 1690, folio. See Bernardi's Hist, des Droitt 

 Franc., 1816) II. In the law of Scotland, Assize 

 signifies a jury of fifteen sworn men, picked out by 

 the court from a greater number, not exceeding forty- 

 five, who have been summoned by the sheriff for that 

 purpose ; a list of whom is given to the defender, 

 when a copy of the libel is served upon him. III. In 

 England, the term is used to signify the sessions of 

 the courts, held annually, in every county, by the 

 judges. In disputes concerning property, Henry II. 

 gave the contending parties the right of deciding 

 their difference by a trial before the grand court of 

 assizes, or by combat. The grand court of assizes 

 consisted of all the knights in the county ; the infe- 

 rior court of assizes, which decided questions relating 

 to possession, of twelve freemen. From these the jury 

 took its rise. Twelve judges, who are members of 

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