What is "assessor"

Assessor \As*sess"or\, n. [L., one who sits beside, the assistant of a judge, fr. assid?re. See Assession. LL., one who arranges of determines the taxes, fr. assid?re. See Assess, v., and cf. Cessor.]

1. One appointed or elected to assist a judge or magistrate with his special knowledge of the subject to be decided; as legal assessors, nautical assessors.
   --Mozley & W.

2. One who sits by another, as next in dignity, or as an assistant and adviser; an associate in office.

   Whence to his Son, The assessor of his throne, he thus began.
   --Milton.

   With his ignorance, his inclinations, and his fancy, as his assessors in judgment.
   --I. Taylor.

3. One appointed to assess persons or property for the purpose of taxation.
   --Bouvier.

late 14c., from Old French assessor "assistant judge, assessor (in court)" (12c., Modern French assesseur) and directly from Latin assessor "an assistant, aid; an assistant judge," in Late Latin "one who assesses taxes," literally "a sitter-by," agent noun from past participle stem of assidere "to sit beside" (see assess).

n. 1 One who assesses a property for tax or insurance evaluation. 2 A specialist who assists the court in determining a matter. 3 ''Tax '''assessor''''': Civil servant entrusted with checking the veracity of data and criteria used by a taxpayer to complete a tax return. 4 One who assesses a project for cost evaluation. 5 (cx UK Oxford University English) An official responsible for student welfare.

n. an official who evaluates property for the purpose of taxing it [syn: tax assessor]

An assessor may be:

• Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate
• Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford
• Assessor (property), an expert who calculates the value of property
• Collegiate Assessor, a civil rank in Imperial Russia
• Assessor (Italy), a member of the executive board in Italian local government
• scabinus or its various derived offices, in English translation

In some jurisdictions, an assessor is a judge's or magistrate's assistant. This is the historical meaning of this word.

In common law jurisdictions, assessors are usually non-lawyers who sit together with a judge to provide either expert advice (such as on maritime matters) or guidance on local practices. The use of assessors nowadays is quite rare. In some jurisdictions, such as Fiji, assessors are used in place of juries. An assessor's opinion or view of a case is not binding on a judge.

The Assessor is an official in the University of Oxford, in England. The position was created in 1960. The Assessor is responsible for student welfare.

Former Assessors include Lawrence Goldman, John Landers, and Michael Mingos.

In Italy an assessor (in Italian language: assessore) is a member of a Giunta, the executive body in all levels of local government: regions, provinces and communes.

Assessors are appointed by the chief executive of local government, Mayor in commune, President in province and region, who chairs Giunta. They serve until chief executive ends his term or resigns, if he doesn't dismiss them.

In communes with 15,000 residents or more and in provinces assessors cannot be members of Consiglio (council), the local legislative body: if a member of council is appointed as assessor, he must resign from council.

Mayor or president usually assigns to each assessor responsibility for a specific aspect of municipal, provincial or regional affairs and the supervision of corresponding branch of local government, called assessorato (department). Among assessor one is chosen by mayor or president as his deputy and is called vicesindaco ( deputy mayor) or vicepresidente ( vice president).