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
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,