-ˈprīəs noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin, literally, unless before (words introducing a clause in the writ)
1.
a. : a cause involving issues of fact that being begun in the courts of Westminster was appointed to be tried there in an Easter or Michaelmas term by a jury from the county wherein the cause of action arose unless before the day appointed the judges of assize came into the county in question and there tried the cause
b. : an issue of fact triable at the assizes
2.
a.
(1) : a writ commanding the sheriff to provide a jury at the Court of Westminster on a day certain unless the judges of assize previously come to the county from which the jury is to be returned
(2) : the clause in this writ introduced by the words nisi prius
(3) : the authority or commission conferred by this clause on the judges of assize
b. : an action tried or to be tried in an English court under such a writ
c.
(1) : the trial of civil causes by the judges of assize
(2) : the trial of issues of fact in civil causes or other such court business (as the trial of causes before the judges of the King's Bench Division in London)
3.
a. : a court of record in the U.S., Great Britain, and other English-speaking countries that tries an issue of fact before a jury and a single judge
b. : the proceedings in such a court — compare in banc at banc