NISI PRIUS (Lat. unless before). For the purpose of holding trials by jury. Im portant words in the writ (venire) directing the sheriff to summon jurors for the trial of causes depending in the superior courts of law in England, which, have come to be adopted, both in England and the United States, to denote those courts or terms of court held for the trial of civil causes with the presence and aid of a jury.
The origin of the use of the term is to be traced to a period anterior to the institution of the com mission of nisi prius in its more modern form. By Magna Carta it was provided that the common pleas should be held in one place, and should not follow the person of the king ; and by another clause, that assizes of novel disseisin and of wort d'ancestor, which were the two commonest forms of actions to recover land, should be held in the various counties before the justices in eire. A practice obtained very early, therefore, in the trial of trifling causes, to continue the cause in the su perior court from term to term, provided the jus tices in eyre did not sooner (nisi Pries justiciarii) come into ,the county where the cause of action w arose, in which case they had jurisdiction when they so came. Bracton, 1. 3, c. 1, § 11. By the
statute of nisi prius, 13 Edw. I. c. 30, enferced by 14 Edw. III. c. 16, -justices of assize were empowered to try common issues in trespass and other suits, and return them, when tried, to the superior court, where judgment was given. The clause was then left out of the continuance and inserted in the ve nire, thus: "Prceciptimus tibi quod venire facies carom justiciariis nostril o4iud Westm. in Octavis Sctti Michcelis, nisi talis et talis, tali die et loco, ad partes tillas venerint duodecim," etc. (we command you that you cause to come before our justices at Westminster, on the octave of Saint Michael, un less such and such a one, on such a day and place, shall come to those parts, twelve, etc.). Under the provisions of 42 Edw. III. a. 11, the clause is omitted from the venire, and the jury is respited in the court above, while the sheriff summons them to ap pear before the justices, upon a habeas corpora juratorum, or, in the king's bench, a distringas. See Sell. Pr. Introd. lxv. ; 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 116 ; 3 Shars. Bla. Com. 352-354; 1 Reeve, Hist. Eng. Law 245, 382.
See ASSIZE ; COURT Of ASSIZE AND NISI Parus; JURY.