ASS 



105 



ASS 



ASSA'T BA'LANCE. a very delicate ba- 

 lance employed in chemical analysis, and 

 so called from its being first employed in 

 assaying metals. It ought to indicate 



ASSEM'BLT, FT. assemUte, any convoca- 

 tion. The general assembly of the church 

 of Scotland is an ecclesiastical court com- 

 posed of delegates from every Presbytery, 

 university, and royal burgh in Scotland. 

 In 'niltttiry language, assembly means the 

 second beating of the drum before a march. 



ASSESS'OR, in Scotch late, a person who 

 sits along with the judges in the inferior 

 courts, and assists with his professional 

 knowledge in the decisions pronounced. 



ASSE'TS, from Fr. itmez, enough. 1. 

 Property placed for the discharge of some 

 particular obligation or trust in the hands 



of executors, assignees, &c. 2. The 



stock in trade and the entire available 

 property belonging to a merchant or 

 trading company. 



ASSIES', a Spanish word signifying a 

 contract or treaty, and used to denote the 

 contract or agreement by which the Spa- 

 niel', government ceded, first to the French, 

 an J afterwards (by the treaty of Utrecht) 

 to & company of English merchants, 

 called the asiiento company, the right of 

 importing slaves into the Spanish colo- 

 nies in America, on payment of certain 

 duties. Ships so employed were called 

 atnrnto j/ii;. 



ASSIO'N AT , the name of the French paper 

 currency in the time of the French revo- 

 lution, which by over-issue (40,000 mil- 

 lions), after a while, became of no value. 



A*sioK*.'TioN,a Russian paper money 

 used since 1769. There are assignations 

 for 6,10, 25, 50, and 100 rubles, but the no- 

 minal and real values are such that; in 

 1809, four assignation-rubles were paid 

 f -r one ruble silver money. 



AMIGNE'E, a person appointed by com- 

 petent authority to transact some busi- 

 ness, or exercise some particular privi- 

 lege or power, on account of some specified 

 person or persons. The term is most com- 

 monly applied to the creditor of a bank- 

 rupt appointed to manage for the rest of 

 the creditors, and who has the bankrupt's 

 estate assigned over to him. This person 

 is called trustee in Scotland. 



ASSIZE, Fr. assizes, of Lat. ad and tedeo. 

 1. In the middle ages, the name given to 

 assemblies, and especially to courts for 

 the administration of justice to vassals 

 and freemen. 2. In England, the ses- 

 sions of the court of justice held by the 

 judges in the counties are called assize*. 

 At these assi/cs the judges sit under five 

 different commissions, some of which 

 relate to civil and others to criminal 

 causes. The first is the commission of 

 assize, from which the session derive* its 



name, and by Which they are authorised 

 to take assizes in the several counties; 

 that is, to take the verdict of the particu- 

 lar kind of jury called an assize, and sum- 

 moned to decide certain cases respecting 



the titles of land. 3. In Scotch law, a 



jury of fifteen sworn men, picked out 

 from the court by a greater number, not 

 exceeding forty-five, who have been 

 summoned by the sheriff for that purpose 

 A list of these is given to the defender 

 when a copy of the libel is served upon him. 



Assize of Novel Disseisin, a writ given 



to recover possession of lands, tenements 

 &c., of which the tenant has been lately 



disseised. Assize ofMort d' Ancestor, lies 



against an abator, who enters upon land 

 after the death of the tenant and before 

 the heir enters. Assize of darreiti Pre- 

 sentment, lies against a stranger who pre- 

 sents a clerk to a benefice. Assize of 



Bread, the price of bread as formerly re- 

 gulated by statute, in proportion to the 

 price of wheat. 



ASSOCIA/TION. 1. In psychology, a name 

 given to that property of the mud, by 

 which any object or state of consciousness 

 has a tendency to recall other states or 

 objects of consciousness with which it 



has been formerly connected. 2. In 



politics, a society formed of a number of 

 individuals acting under common rules 

 and an elective government, for the ac- 

 complishment of some definite object. 



AS'SONANCE. In rhetoric and poetry, a 

 resemblance in termination without mak - 

 ing rhyme, called by the Romans timiliter 

 desinens, and by the Greeks cu^icTt/.ivrot . 



AS'SOJJANT RHYMES, in Spanish poetry, 

 are those in which the vowels only are 

 required to rhyme, as ligera, tierra, 



ASSCM'PSIT, a Latin word meaning he 

 undertook, used in English law to denote 

 an action to recover a compensation in 

 damages for the non-performance of a 

 parol promise ; i. e. a promise whether 

 verbal or written, not contained in a deed 

 under seal. The word is taken as the 

 name of the action, from its occurrence in 

 declarations of the plaintiff's cause of 



action when these were in Latin. 



Assumpsits are either express or implied, 

 according as the contract is actually ex- 

 pressed by words, or inferrable from some 

 benefit accruing to one person from the 

 acts (as the labour) of another. 



ASSUMPTION, Lat. assumptio. The fes- 

 tival by which the Roman and Greek 

 Catholic Churches celebrate the miracu- 

 lous ascent of the Virgin Mary on the 15th 

 of August. 



ASSCM'I>TIVE, Lat. assutnptius, can be 

 assumed. In heraldry, assumptive arms 

 are such as a person has a right, with the 

 approbation of his sovereign and the 

 heralds, to assume in cor.*equonct of some 

 exploit. 



