Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

10

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

1~y another) ordains that one weight, and one measure, and one yard,
)e through all the land, and that wools and all manner avoir de pois be
weighed by the balance, so that the tongue of the balance be even.
In the year 1389, the 13th Rich. II., uniformity of weights and
measures was ordained throughout the kingdom, " except in the
County of Lancaster, because in that county it hath always been used
to have greater measure than in any other part of the realm.'
An ordinance of 15th Rich. II. directed that 8 bushels stricken be
the quarter of corn, and penalties be enforced on all who made use
of 9 bushels to the quarter.
By statute of 2 Hen. VI., 1424, a tun of wine was defined to contain 252 gallons; a pipe, 126 gallons; a tertian, 84 gallons; and a
hogshead, 63 gallons. At a later period the measure called a tertian or tierce, being the third part of a pipe or butt, was called a
p)uncheon. Another statute of 1429 required all cities, boroughs, and
towns to procure a common balance and weights at their own expense, according to the standard of the Exchequer, to be kept by the
mayor or constable.
In the year 1495, on petition of the Commons, an Act, 11 Hen.
VII., was passed, that weights and measures according to the standard
of the Exchequer should 'be delivered for safe custody to the mayors
of boroughs and corporate towns; that all common weights and
measures be made according to these standards, and marked as the
king's standard; and that all weights and measures in use should be
examined twice every year. It was also ordained " that eight bushels
raised and stricken shall be a quarter of corn; and fourteen pounds
a stone of wool; and twenty-six stone a sack." On more diligent
examination some of the measures approved were found deficient, not
having been made according to the old laws of the realm.
By an amended statute, 12 Hen. VII., c. 5, it was enacted " that
the measure of a bushel contain eight gallons, and that every
gallon contain eight pounds of wheat Troy weight, and every pound
contain twelve ounces of Troy weight, and every ounce contain twenty
sterlings, and every sterling be of the weight of thirty-two corns of
wheat that grew in the midst of the ear of wheat, according to the
old laws of the land."' The Tower pound then in use, and considered
the same as the old Saxon pound, was, by this Act, exchanged for the
pound Troy. This alteration was owing to the Intercarsus 17lagnts,
or Great Treaty of Commerce concluded between England and
English Laws, entitled Flefta, composed in the time of Edward I. (Lib. iii., c. 12),
it is stated expressly that fifteen ounces make the merchant's pound. The Saxon
practice was the same as the Roman. They both had two pounds, one for the
Exchequer and one for trade, having the ounces the same in both, but the comimercial pound differing from thetheoter only in the number of ounces. This difference
I,etween the Saxon mercantile pound of 15 ounces and the Roman pound of 16 ounces
i.'as not considerable, not more than half an ounce, and they might pass mutually,br each other in trade without much inconvenience. The account of Fleta confirms
1 lie fact that the Conqueror's laws confirmed the Saxon practice, and that the subsequent kings followed the same rule, and he also states that the usage continued to
his time, and most probably till the reign of Edward III. For in the ninth year of
his reign, the prohibition on foreign merchants was removed, and they were at
liberty to buy all Avoirdupois wares and merchandise at any place without the realm,
mad to sell them to any persons whatsoever except the king's enemies. It appears
Irom this Act, and from several others, that the commerce of England was far more
considerable in those early times than is commonly imagined.