ASSIZE OF J'ERU'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 deterutining the mneh-d4.bated question of its history. The Assize of the High Court was probably a body of eustoms, unwritten for the most part, until Jean d'Ibelin, about 1235, attempted to frame {hem into a 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 Sepulidire. and that this code had been 10 st when Saladin conquered Jeru salem. This account is now recognized as fabu lous. The hook of lbe-lin was reworked twice, in 1368 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 Twelfth Century, but the date is a disputed point. The two codes, together with the comments of jurists of the Thirteenth Century and later, throw much light upon the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but the kssize of the [Ugh 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 STorea, and was adapted to meet the needs of the later kingdoms. The best edition is by Beugnot in the Rceueil des historiens des Croi sautes (1311-43). The Assizes of Antioch have been discovered, in an Armenian translation, and published, with a. French version, at Venice, in 1876. See Dodu, institutions monarehigues, dans le royaume la tin. de Jerusalem (Paris, 1891).