The Coinage Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 10) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

. It stated the metric weights of British coins. For example, it defined the weight of the

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

as 7.98805 grams (about 123.27747 grains). The Act was repealed by the

Coinage Act 1971 The Coinage Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which consolidated prior coinage-related enactments relating to the country's coinage. Among its provisions, the term legal tender was redefined and confirms that the Chance ...

. The Act is retained for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

by section 2 of, and Part 4 of Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 2007. The Act also vested the titles of

Master of the Mint Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an important office in the governments of Scotland and England, and later Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, between ...

and 'Governor of the Mint of Scotland', which had ceased minting coins in 1707, in the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...

. The Act also gave the British government the authority to establish branches of the Mint in overseas British possessions. In 1907, the government used that power to establish a branch of the Mint in Ottawa, at the request of the Canadian government. It repealed the authorization in 1931, when the Mint in Ottawa came under full Canadian control. A contemporary history suggests that the Act was influenced by the criticisms of

George Frederick Ansell __NOTOC__ George Frederick Ansell (4 March 1826 – 21 December 1880) was an English scientific inventor, chemist and assayer, and author of a standard work on the Royal Mint. Biography Ansell was born at Carshalton on 4 March 1826. He was a ...

.Challis, C. E. ''A new history of the royal mint'' (1992), quoted in ''Ansell, George Frederick (1826–1880), chemist and assayer'' by W. P. Courtney, rev. Robert Brown, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

References

"Coinage Act, 1870"
eISB. {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1870 1870 in economics Currency law in the United Kingdom

See also

References