Henry therefore promulgated various assizes (i.e. courts that convened in a town periodically, rather than being permanently established). The primary and most general one, the Assize of Clarendon was issued in 1166. Others, the "petty" assizes known respectively as the assize of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment gave more specific relief. The most popular one became the "assize of novel disseisin", which in Law French meant something close to the "assize of recent dispossession". Those who had been recently put out of their lands could recover the beneficial use of them by resort to this assize, which led to a then innovative method of trial. Twelve "of the more lawful men" of the locality were summoned by the king's sheriff to determine, upon their own knowledge, who was entitled to the property. This innovative method of proceeding, the origin of the civil petit jury at common law, was aimed at the chaos introduced into property rights by crusade and civil war.