871. _sisours_, jury-men. I copy the following from my note on P. Plowman,
B. ii. 62. 'The exact signification of _sisour_ does not seem quite
certain, and perhaps it has not always the same meaning. The [489]
Low-Latin name was _assissores_ or _assisiarii_, interpreted by Ducange to
mean "qui a principe vel a domino feudi delegati _assisias_ tenent"; whence
Halliwell's explanation of _sisour_ as a person deputed to hold assizes.
Compare--
"Þys fals men, þat beyn _sysours_,
Þat for hate a trew man wyl endyte,
And a þefe for syluer quyte."
Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 1335.'
Mr. Furnivall's note says--'_Sysour_, an inquest-man at assizes. The
_sisour_ was really a juror, though differing greatly in functions and in
position from what jurymen subsequently became; see Forsyth's Hist. of
Trial by Jury.' In the tale of Gamelyn, however, it is pretty clear that
'the twelve sisours that weren of the quest' were simply the twelve
gentlemen of the jury, who were hired to give false judgment (l. 786).
Blount, in his Law Dictionary, says of _assisors_, that 'in Scotland
(according to Skene) they are the same with our jurors.' The following
stanza from A Poem of the Times of Edw. II., ll. 469-474 (printed in
Political Songs, ed. Wright, p. 344), throws some light on the text:--
'And thise _assisours_, that comen to shire and to hundred,
Damneth men for silver, and that nis no wonder.
For whan the riche justise wol do wrong for mede,
Thanne thinketh hem thei muwen the bet, for thei han more nede
To winne.
Ac so is al this world ablent, that no man douteth sinne.'