PRIUS. Courts in England composed of two or more commissioners, called “judges of assize,” (or of “assize and nist prius,”) who are twice in every year sent by the king’s special commission, on circuits all round the kingdom, to try, by a jury of the respective counties, the truth of such matters of fact as are there under dispute in the courts of Westminster Hall. 3 Steph. Comm. 421, 422; $3