ENGLISH IV. THE English weights and measures being thus be- $4. come our ftatutable ftandards, require to be shortly explain- WEIGHTS ed. AND MEA of war In what Two kinds of weights, both warrantable, are ufed in Eng- Two kinds land, viz. troy weight, which, by law, has twelve ounces to rantable the pound; and whereby are weighed filk, gold, filver, weights. pearl, and precious ftones: and avoirdupois, which is by Troy,what? custom, yet confirmed by ftatute; and whereby are weighed used. all kinds of grocery wares, drugs, butter, cheese, flesh, wax, Avoirdupitch, tar, tallow, wool, hemp, flax, iron, fteel, lead, and all pois. other commodities, which bear the name of Garbel, and In what whereof iffueth a refufe or wafte (and alfo bread, by the 31 things ufed. Geo. II, c. 29); and this hath to the pound fixteen ounces, and twelve pounds over are allowed to every hundred. By Bufhel, 12 Hen. VII, c. 5, every bufhel fhall contain eight gallons what? of wheat, and every gallon eight pounds troy, and every pound twelve ounces, on the penalty of 201. upon every city, borough, town, or place, having the keeping of common measures, that fhall keep any other bufhel or gallon. And by 13 and 14 Will. III, c. 5, a legal Winchester bufhel, according to the ftandard in the exchequer, fhall be round, with a plain bottom, eighteen one half inches wide throughout, and eight inches deep. THE ftandard of these weights was originally taken from corns of wheat; whence the loweft denomination of weights is called a grain, thirty-two of which are directed by statute to compofe a pennyweight, whereof twenty make an ounce, and fo upwards, as already mentionedd. § 4. * INGLISH Y STAND. ARDS. Measures of length. Ell. Measures bufhel. THE English hiftorians inform us, that king Henry I commanded that the ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of the exact length of his own arm. And one standard of measures of length being gain-. ed, all others are easily derived from thence; those of greater length by multiplying; those of lefs, by fubdividing that original ftandard. Thus five yards and a half are required to make a perch, or pole, and one yard is fubdivided into three feet, and each foot into twelve inches, which inches will be each of the length of three grains of barley. By the bill already mentioned, a straight brass rod, made by direction of the committee, was to be the only standard yard and unit, and only standard measure of extenfion. Superficial meafures are derived by fquaring thofe of length, and measures of capacity by cubing them'a na 12 THE Winchester bufhel is the legal English measure for of capacity. all forts of grain. A legal Winchefter bufhel, according to Winchefter the ftandard in the exchequer, must be round, with a plain bottom, eighteen one half inches wide throughout, and eight inches deep. And every bufhel muft contain eight gallons of wheat, and every gallon eight pounds troy, and every pound twelve ounces, on the penalty of 201. upon every city, borough, town, or place, having the keeping of -common measures, that fhall keep any other bufhel or gallon. if any perfon fhall fell any fort of corn or grain, ground or unground, or any kind of falt ufually fold by the bufhel, by any other bufhel or measure than agreeable to the Winchefter measure, containing eight gallons to the bufhel, ftrucken even by the brim by the feller, he fhall forfeit 40s, on conviction before one justice, mayor, or other head officer, on bath of one witness, to be levied by the church-wardens and it was propofed that a piece of fine And should be the unit and only standard a 13 and 14 William III, c. 5. $.4 ENGLISH overfeers, or fome one of them, to the ufe of the poor by diftrefs, and in default of distress, imprisonment till paid. STAND And whoever fhall fell any corn, ground or unground, or ARDS. falt in any other measure, and that without fhaking the bushel by the buyer, fhall forfeit befide, all the corn, grain, or falt, to the perfon or perfons complaining. And if any mayor, or other head officer, fhall fuffer any other measure to be ufed, than according to the standard, and fealed, he fail forfeit gl. half to the profecutor, and half to the poor, en conviction, by prefentment or indictment at the county felons, by diftrefs in default of diftrefs, to be imprisoned by warrant of the justices till paid. And whofoever shall fell by any other weight, measure, or yard, not according to the standard, on keep any fuch, whereby any thing is bought or fold, fhall forfeit 5s. on conviction before one justice, One juftice has power mayor, or other head officer, on oath of one witness, to be to proceed levied by the overfeers and churchwardens, or fome or one on oath of one witness. of them, to the use of the poor, by diftrefs; in default of diftrefs, imprisonment till paid but water measure, viz. five pecks to the bufhely in a fea-port towns, to continue as ufual; except in the measuring of corn or grain, ground or unground, and falt f. Y BUT it does not feem neceffary here to go into any longer detail of thofe numerous enactments, by which that uniformity of weights and measures, fo much wifhed for, has not been effected. This fact was affumed in the above-mentioned bill, grounded upon the report of the parliamentary committees; and as that bill, thought printed, has not been further followed out, the fame ftill remains to be the fubject of future legislation. In the meantime, it may fuffice, for practical information, to infert in Appendix III, from lord Swinton's Treatife on weights, Tables of the English and 84. ENGLISH STAND ARDS. $5. BRITISH STAND- Union. Scottish ftandard weights and meafures, and for converting them into each other. V. UNDER the above claufe of the articles of Union, there cannot be any doubt of the English ftandards having been intended to fuperfede the Scottish, that uniformity might obtain over the united kingdom. Excepting, however, that in fome counties the Winchefter bufhel is beginning to be used, the practice has continued as formerly; chiefly, lord Swinton thinks, from due pains not having been taken to enable the people to convert the one into the other. Befides, the legislature has countenanced this practice, by adopting, on more than one occafion, our ancient Scottish ftandards. In like manner, the fupreme court has occafionally interfered for their more correct regulation. And in modifying ministers ftipends, the Teind court, to this day, uniformly employs the Linlithgow measure. In in this country, as well as in England, there are alfo feparate local weights and measures ftill ufed in the differ 2 Thus, by the 24 Ġeo. II, c. 31, § 4, it is enacted, that all lintfeed and hempfeed shall be fold by the Linlithgow barley measure, ftreaked, under the penalty of 40s.; and this, notwithstanding the duties on import are all paid according to English weights and measures. b Thus in Finlay, &c. v. Magiftrates of Linlithgow, the court of feffion (July 5, 1782) found the method presently used in adjusting the firlot measure was erroneous, and « remitted to the lord ordinary to di"rect a standard to be made con"form, &c. to be held in all time "coming as the standard firlot mea"fure." His lordship (13th July 1782) accordingly directed, &c. The report in the Fac. Col. and Dict. goes no farther; but his lordship (4th Feb, 1783), "in respect the purfuers have "never yet got the ftandard firlot "measure made, &c. recalled the in"terdict, and allowed the magistrates "of Linlithgow to cause make firlets from the old standard measures." Thereafter, the standards, as directed, having been made, the pursuers infifted in the caufe. But the court, in general, entertained doubt, whether the interlocutor, 5th July 1782, was not ultra vires; and therefore (19th May 1791), instead of following out the previous order, as to the adop tion of the new ftandard meafüre, only corrected the practice of the magiftrates of Linlithgow in the way of filling the jug, as difconform to the flatute. BRITISH ent counties; which, however, are so far from being countenanced by law, that in the cafe of a criminal trial, as we STANDhave feen, it is not a relevant charge that there has been a Ards. deviation from the customary measure or weight of the diftrict or neighbourhood. Nay, in ftrictness, it is even inditeable to make use of any weight or measure different from thofe which national authority has established ; . and if this appointment cannot everywhere "be executed, "by reafon of the long practice and known cuftom of cer"tain counties or districts to the contrary, it is not there"fore to be imagined that the law is therefore obfolete, nor "that in other quarters of the kingdom, or with respect to "other commodities which have not been fubject to any "fuch irregularity, a licence has been gained, of dealing, "by various or arbitrary weights or measures, fuch as are "of no known proportion, and are not reducible to any "standard"." UPON this grievance, which is felt in England as much as in this country, there are one or two late decifions of the court of king's bench, which merit attention. One was, that although there had been a custom in a town to fell butter by eighteen ounces to the pound, yet the jury of the court-leet were not justified in seizing the butter of a person who fold pounds lefs than that, but more than fixteen ounces each, the ftatutable weight. In the other, it was deter Aug. 11, 1714, Sir James Dun- "ounces; but the question now bebar and John Forsyth. Hume, vol.i,fore the court, is, whether a cufPo 257; 1503, c.96. B.17. Hume, ibid. Chriftian's Blackflone, b. i, p. 276, Lord-chief-juftice Kenyon, faid: "la deciding this question, I wish not to be understood to say that a cuftom may not prevail that but ter fhall be fold in lumps, or yards, containing any given number of tom in Southampton, that a pound "fhall contain 18 ounces, can be Local weights,&c. can, would be to violate all the « rules of language, as long as the "acts of parliament, which have a been cited, are to regulate this fub"ject." Mr. juftice Afhhurft, faid: that "the "only ground on which this cuftom |