ASS 
ASSESSMENT, f. The fum levied on certain proper¬ 
ty. The. aft ot' alleging.—What greater immunity and 
happinefs can there be to a people, than to be liable to no 
laws, but what they make themfelves ? To be fubjedt to 
no contribution, ajcjfmcnt, or any pecuniary levy wlVatfo- 
ever, but what they vote and voluntarily yield unto them- 
i'elves ? Howl. 
ASSES'SOR , f. [ ajpjffor , Lat.] The perfon that (its by 
another: generally tiled of thole who allill the judge: 
Minos, the ftridt inquilitor, appears ; 
And lives and crimes, with his ajj'ejfors, hears: 
Round in his urn the blended balls he rolls, 
Ablblves the juft, and dooms the guilty, fouls. Dryden. 
He that fits by another as next in dignity. He that lays 
taxes: derived from ajjjs. 
ASSETS, f. withoutthcfingular. [fronra^fz.Fr. enough.] 
In law, is of two kinds; the one alfets by defeent, the other 
alfets in hand. Aftets by defeent is, where a man is bound 
in an obligation, and dies leifed of lands in fee Ample, 
which defeend to his heir, then this land (hall be called 
alfets, that is,' enough, or fufficient to pay the fame debt; 
whether he remains in polfelfion of the land, or hath alien¬ 
ed it before action brought; therefore, if a man covenants 
for himfelf and his heirs, to keep my houfe in repair, I can 
then (and then only) compel his heir to perform this co¬ 
venant, when he hath an eftate fufficient for this purpofe, 
or alfets, by defeent From the covenantor; for, though the 
covenant defeends to the heir whether he inherits any ef¬ 
tate or not, it lies dormant, and is not compulfatory, until 
he hath afl’ets by defeent. 2 Blachjl. 243. Alfets in hand 
is, when a man in like manner indebted makes executors, 
and leaves them fufficient to pay ; or fome commodity or 
profit is come unto them in right of their teftator; this is 
called alfets in their hands. T. L. There is alio another 
divifion of alfets, into legal and equitable alfets: legal alfets 
are fuch as are liable to debts and legacies by the courfeof 
law ; equitable alfets are fuch as are only liable by the help 
of a court of equity. So alfo there are real and perfonal aL- 
fets : real alfets are fuch as concern the land ; perfonal are 
fuch as concern the perfonal eftate only. 
As to alfets by defeent, it is to be obferved, that by the 
common law, if an heir had fold or aliened the lands which 
were alfets, before the obligation of his anceftor was put 
in fuit, he was to be di(charged, and the debt was loft : 
but by the ftatute, 3 Will. & Mary, c. 14, made perpetual 
by 6 Will. III. c. 14, the heir is made liable to the value 
of the land by him fold, in adtion of debt brought againft 
him by the obligee, who (hall recover to the value of the 
faid land, as if the debt was the proper debt of the heir; 
but the land which is fold or aliened bond fide before the 
adtion brought, (hall not be liable to execution upon a 
judgment recovered againft the heir in any fuch adtion. 
And by flat. 29 Car. il. c. 3, land of cejluy que trujl lhall 
be aftets by defeent; and, by the fame ftatute, eftates pur 
mitre vie fhall be alfets in the hands of the heir, if it come 
to him by reafon of a fpecial occupancy ; and, where there 
is no fpecial occupant, it lhall go to the executors or ad- 
miniftrators of the party that had the eftate thereof by vir¬ 
tue of the grant, and lhall be alfets in their hands. Where 
a man binds himfelf and his heirs in a bond, and dies, lea¬ 
ving ilfiie two fons; if the eldeft fon enters on the lands 
by defeent as heir to the father, and die without iffue, and 
then the youngeft fon enters, he (hall be charged with alfets 
as heir to the father. Dyer, 368. Lands which come to 
the heir by purchafe lhall not be aftets ; for it is only lands 
by defeent that are alfets. 1Danv.Abr.5n. A reverlion 
in fee, depending upon an eftate-tail, is not alfets; becaufe 
it lies in the will of the tenant in tail to dock and bar it 
by fine, &c. 6 Rep. 56. But, after the tail is fpent, it is 
aftets. 3 Mod. 257. And a reverfion on an eftate for life 
or years lhall be alfets. A reverlion expectant upon the 
determination of an eftate for life is alfets, and ought to be 
pleaded fpecially by the heir; and the plaintiff in fuch cafe 
may take judgment of it cum acciderit, Dyer, 371. Carthczu, 
ASS 2S3 
129. An advowfon is aftets; but not a prsfentation to a 
church aiiually void, which may not be fold. Co. Lit. 374. 
And lands by defeent in ancient demefne will be alfets in 
debt. But a copyhold eftate defeending to an heir is not 
aftets; nor is any right to an eftate alfets, without polief- 
lion, &c. till recovered and reduced into poffefiion. Danv. 
577. An annuity is no alfets, for it is only a chafe cn a Elion. 
Equity of redemption of an eftate mortgaged, and a term 
for years to attend the inheritance are alfets. 3 Lon. 32. 
An heir may plead riens per defeent, but the plaintiff may 
reply that lie had lands from his anceftor; and fpecial 
matter may be given in evidence, Sec. 5 Rep. 60. A fpe¬ 
cial judgment againft alfets lhall only have relation to, and 
bind, the land from the time of filing tire original writ or 
bill. Carth. 245. 
It is a rule in equity, that perfonal alfets muft be firft ap¬ 
plied to latisfv the fpecialty debt; and, if deficient, the 
heir (hall be charged for the real alfets defeended to him; 
and, if thefe are deficient, then the devifee of an eftate de¬ 
viled to him by the deceafed is liable. 2 Aik. 434. 
7bASSE'VER, or Asse'verate, v.a. \_ajfcverc, Lat. ] 
To affirm witli great folemnity, as upon oath. 
ASSEVERA'TION, f. Solemn affirmation, as upon 
oath.—Another abufe of tire tongue I might add; vehe¬ 
ment ajfcverations upon flight and trivial occafions. Ray. 
ASS'HBAD,yi [from afs and hcad.~\ One (low of ap- 
prehenfion ; a blockhead.—Will you help an afhead, and 
a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull J Shak. 
ASSHE'TON (William), an eminent divine, born in 
164.1, and educated at Oxford. After entering into or¬ 
ders, he became chaplain to the duke of Ormond, and was 
admitted doctor of divinity in 1673. Soon after, he was 
nominated to a prebend in the church of York, prefented 
to the living of St. Antholin, London, and to the redtory 
of Beckenham in Kent. He was the firft projedtorof the 
fcheme for providing for clergymens widows, and others, 
by a jointure payable out of the mercers company. He 
wrote feveral pieces againft the Papilts and differ,ters, and 
fome devotional tradts. He died at Beckenham in Septem¬ 
ber in 1711, in the 70th year of his age. 
ASSIDE'ANS, or Chasid^eans, [from D'-udh Heb. 
merciful, pious.] Thofe Jews who reforted to Mattathias 
to fight for the law of God and the liberties of their coun¬ 
try. They were men of great valour and zeal, having vo¬ 
luntarily devoted themfelves to a more ftridt obfervation 
of the law titan other men. For, after the return of the 
Jews from the Babylonifh captivity, there were two forts 
of men in their church ; thofe who contented themfelves 
with that obedience only which was preferibed by the law 
of Moles, and who were called Zadikim, i. e. the “ righte¬ 
ous;” and thofe who, over and above the law, fuperadded 
the conftitutions and traditions of the elders, and other ri¬ 
gorous obfervances : thefe latter were called Chafidim , i. e. 
the “pious.” From the former lprung the Samaritans, 
Sadducees, and Caraites; from the latter, the Pharifees 
and the Effenes. 
AS'SIDENT SIGNS, in medicine, are fymptoms which 
ufitally attend a difeafe, but not always; hence differing 
from pathognomic (igns, which are infeparable from the 
clifeafe; e.gr. in the pleurify, a pungent pain in the lide : 
in an acute fever, difficulty of breathing, &c. collectively 
taken, are pathognomic ligns; but that the pain extends 
to the hypochondrium or clavicle, or that the patient lies 
with more eafe on one fide than on the other, are ajjident 
ligns. 
ASSIDU'ITY, /. \_ajfiduite, Fr. ajiduitas, Lat.] Dili¬ 
gence ; clofenefs of application.—I have, with much rains 
and ajffduity, qualified mylelf for a nomenclator. Addifon. 
“ AJJiduity makes all things eafy.” AJiduitd genera fa - 
cilta, Ital. The Latins fay, Gutta cavat Itzpid m : a drop 
can hollow a (tone in time. T&e Germans, M/t gnna.k 
gehem kimmt man auch wdt ; fair and loftly goes far. There 
is hardly any thing, though at firft appearance it may feem 
ever fo difficult, but what time and application will over¬ 
come ; witnels innumerable particulars in the fciences, as 
well 
