ASSIST'ANCE, Writ of. The process Issu- ing from a court of equity to a sheriff, marshal, or similar officer, for the enforcement of an order or decree for the possession of lands. In Eng- land this process is now styled a writ of posses- sion. Formerly, the latter term apjjcars to have been emilincd to process for the enforcement of a decree for the possession of a leasehold interest in land ; and in some of our States it is used to denote the process for enforcing a judgment in a eon>- mon-law action for the possession of lands, while like process from a court of equity is called a writ of assistance. During our Colonial period writs of assistance were issued by the courts to officers of the customs, authorizing them to take a constable or other public officer, and to enter any building and there to seize, and thence to bring, goods upon which customs duties had not been paid. For a learned discvission of these Avrits, consult Quincy, Reports, Superior Court of Jndicaiiire, Province of Masnachusetts Bay, 1761-72; With an Appendix Upon Writs of Assistance (Boston, 1865). See Otis, .James.
ASSIZE' (Lat. assidere, to sit by, from ad, to
+ seclcre, to sit). Originally, a jury sitting to-
gether for the trial of a cause. Later, it eaiue to
signify the court which summoned the jury by
a. commission of assize. In the plural form it is
the equivalent of circuits, and is applied not only
to the judicial assemblies of the superior courts
in the various counties, for the trial of civil
and criminal cases, but also to the sittings of
such courts. The term is used, too, as synony-
mous with edict, or decree, or even with law.
A iLVit of assize was an action to recover posses-
sion of land, so named because it commanded the
sheriff' to summon a jury, or assize. It was of
great importance in the early history of the law
of real property in England, but was superseded
by the writ of ejectment and other simpler reme-
dies. Rents of assize are the rents of freeholders
or copyholders, which had been fixed or assized
in amount by custom or otherwise, as distin-
guished from arbitrary or various rents. Consult
Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of Eng-
land.
ASSIZE OF CLAR'ENDON. See Claren-
don, Assize of.
ASSIZE OF JERU'SALEM. The name
given to a body of laws in the Latin kingdoms
of Jerusalem and Cyprus, formerly supposed to
have been compiled by Godfrey de Bouillon ( Gib-
bon), but dating in reality from a later period.
The assize consisted of two parts, the Assize of
the High Court, and the Assize of the Court of
Burgesses. In the "Key to the Assize," assize
is defined as 'everything which one has seen in
use and customary in the kingdoms of .Jerusalem
and Cypress.' This aids in determining the
much-debated question of its history. The
Assize of the High Court was probably a body
of customs, unwritten for the most part,
until Jean d'lhelin, about 12.'55, attempted
to frame (hem into a code. In order to give
importance to his compilation, he inserted at
the beginning a historical sketch, in which he
states that the assize had been framed by
Godfrey de Bouillon and deposited by him in
the Church of the Holy .Sepulchre, and that this
code had been lost when Saladin concpiered .Jeru-
salem. This account is now recognized as fabu-
lous. The hook of Ibelin was reworked twice, in
1308 and in 1531, and the present text is based
upon the latter redaction. The Assize of the
Court of Burgesses was probably framed in the
second half of the Twelftli Century, but the date
is a disputed point. The two codes, together
with the comment.s of jurists of the Thirteenth
Century and later, tlirow much light upon the
history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but the
.4ssize of the High Court must be used with
great caution, as it is a document of the Six-
teenth Century, and as it has been revised twice
to .suit the needs of principalities other than the
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem; for the assize
passed from .Jerusalem to Cyprus, and later to
the Morea, and was adaptecl to meet the needs
of the later kingdoms. The best edition is by
Beugnot in the Rccueil des historiens des Croi-
sades (1841-43), The Assizes of Antioch have
been discovered, in an Armenian translation, and
published, with a French version, at Venice, in
1876, See Dodu, Institutions monarchiqtie» rlans
Ic roi/riiiijie hitin de Jerusalem (Paris, 1894).
ASSMANNSHAUSEN, as'monz-hou'zcn. k
village in the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau,
on the right bank of the Rhine, about three miles
below Riidesheim (Map: Germany, B 3), It is
celebrated for its red wine, made of a Burgundy
grape and distinguished for its aromatic flavor,
its uncommon strength and fire. There are also
mineral sprincs, used bv rheumatics. Popula-
tion, in 189.^, "linn: in 1900, 1000.
ASSO'CIATED PRESS, See Press Asso-
ciation,
ASSOCIATE PRES'BYTERY, or The
Secepers, See Presbyterianism,
ASSOCIATE SYNOD, sin'od. Associate
PREsnvTERY, See Presbyterianism,
ASSO'CIATION. See Coopebation; Societies; Company, In psychology, see Association
of Ideas.
ASSO'CIA'TIONISM. See Association op
Ideas,
ASSOCIATION OF IDE'AS. The phrase
'association of ideas' seems to have been first
used by the English philosopher, John Locke,
although the facts to which it gives expression
were often discussed long before Locke's time.
Even as early as the time of Aristotle, we find
four classes of association described; that is,
four ways in which the mind passes from one |
idea to another, These are association by simi-
larity, by contiguity, by contrast, and by sue- j
cession. It was not, however, till the time of'
Hume that the principles of association became
'laws' which were intended to explain not only
the way in whieh idea follows idea, but the
means by which the mind builds up all it.s knowl-
edge of the world. Hume conceived of association as a 'gcnth' force' arising in 'original cpialities of human nature,' and 'pointing out to every one those simple ideas, which are most proper to be united into a complex one,' Since the days of Hume, the principle of association has played a very large part in various systems of philosopliy, particularly among the writers of the empirical school of philosophy in England. It has been orkcd out most elaborately in the writings of James Mill, Alexander Bain, and Herbert Spencer, At times, the advocates of the doctrine have gone so far as to speak of association as a law as universal in the mental
