Statute measure

Weights and Measures Acts are acts of the British Parliament determining the regulation of weights and measures. It also refers to similar royal and parliamentary acts of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and the medieval Welsh states. The earliest of these were originally untitled but were given descriptive glosses or titles based upon the monarch under whose reign they were promulgated. Several omnibus modern acts have the short title " Weights and Measures Act" and are distinguished by the year of their enactment.

Background

There have been many laws concerned with weights and measures in the United Kingdom or parts of it over the last 1,000 or so years. The acts may catalogue lawful weights and measures, prescribe the mechanism for inspection and enforcement of the use of such weights and measures and may set out circumstances under which they may be amended. Modern legislation may, in addition to specific requirements, set out circumstances under which the incumbent minister may amend the legislation by means of statutory instruments. Prior to the Weights and Measures Act 1985, weights and measures acts were only concerned with trade law where the weight or size of the goods being traded was important. The 1985 act, however, had a broader scope, encompassing all aspects covered by the European Economic Community (EEC) European Commission directive 80/181/EEC.

As of 25 April 2012, the current primary legislation in the United Kingdom is the 1985 act, which was last amended by statutory instrument in 2011.
Statutory instruments made under the authority of the act do not amend the act ', but regulate particular areas covered by the act.

The act is currently enforced by the 200 Trading Standards offices managed by local authorities around the country. Definitions of units of measurements and the technical equipment relating to weights and measures are provided by the National Measurement Office, an agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Statute measure

Historically, many units had various customary definitions—by locality or trade, for example. Where these units also had a standard, legally defined definition, such as given in a weights and measures act, this was known as the ''statute measure''. So a land area might be given as 24 acres—statute measure, to clarify that it was the acre defined in statute, rather than a customary acre of a different size, that was being used. Units that had statute-defined measures as well as customary measures were the acre, mile, perch, pole and ton. The level of legal enforcement of statute measures achieved between the mid nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries meant that only "statute mile" and "statute ton" needed qualifying beyond then. The statute mile still needed to be differentiated from the ''nautical mile'', but the others, and the term "statute measure" itself, are now only used in a historical context.

Metric units of measure

The Weights and Measures (Metric System) Act 1897 ( 60 & 61 Vict. c. 46) provided that metric units could be used in addition to the traditional imperial units for purposes of trade. In practice, the actual choice of units was restricted by price marking orders which listed packaging sizes and pricing structures that might be used in specific circumstances. For example, as of April 2012, wine for consumption on premises may only be sold in 125, 175, and 250 mL glasses while draught beer may only be sold as , , or pint and integer multiples of pint. Prior to 1973, when the United Kingdom joined the EEC, such specifications were almost all in imperial units.

As part of its attempt to harmonise units of measure between the member states of its Internal Market, the European Commission (EC) issued directive 80/181/EEC which set out the units of measure that should be used for what it called "economic, public health, public safety, and administrative" purposes. To comply with this directive, the Weights and Measures Act 1985 extended the scope of Trading Standards responsibilities from just matters related to trade to all aspects of the directive. For example, it was the Trading Standards Office that criticised the use of sub-standard weighing machines in NHS hospitals.

To help ease the EC's desired transition from sole use of imperial units to sole use of metric units, the directive permitted the use of what were termed "supplementary indicators"—the continued use of imperial units alongside the metric units catalogued by the directive (dual labelling). The initial intention was to prohibit dual labelling after the end of 1989, with metric units only being allowed after that date. This deadline was later extended: first to the end of 1999, then to the end of 2009. Finally, in 2007, the European Union (EU, as it had become) and the EC confirmed that the UK would be permitted to continue indefinitely to use imperial units such as pints, miles, pounds and ounces as at present. The Gloucestershire County Council Trading Standards Department confirmed the EU ruling that the previous deadline for ending dual labelling had been abolished.

There are still a few cases where imperial units are required to be used and where metric units are not permitted within the scope of the Weights and Measures Act, such as the pint for the sale of draught beer and cider, and miles and yards for distances on road signage. Milk in returnable containers may be sold by the pint and the troy ounce may be used for the sale of precious metals. In addition, British law specifies which non-metric units may be used with dual labelling (for example the imperial gallon, but not the US gallon).

England

Acts of the Witenagemot

Numerous acts of the Saxon kings are known to have been lost. Those that have survived include:

10th century

2 Edgar c. 8 (sometime between 959 and 963):

The statute also survives in a few other Old English and Latin copies, some which omit mention of London and describe "''the'' measure held at Winchester", an indication that a standard ell or yard was nominally in use:

John Quincy Adams's 1821 report on the history of English weights and measures notes of this act that "it was never observed".

Acts of the Royal Council

11th century

3 William I c. 7 (1068):

12th century

9 Richard I c. 27 (1197):

Acts of Parliament

Statutes of uncertain date

The statutes of uncertain date () are generally dated to the mid-to-late 13th century.

;The Assize of Bread and Ale ()
:Sometimes dated to 51 Henry III (1267–68). Statute I - Section III:
:
; (The Statute concerning Bakers, et cetera)
;
: Also known as the , ("The Composition of Weights"), ("Assize of Weights and Measures") or the Weights and Measures Act 1303. In the Latin and English text, "hundred" (and the Latin numeral ) is used for four separate concepts: the Germanic long hundred of 120, the short hundred of 100, several units of either value, and a separate unit (the hundredweight) of 108 pounds.
:The form in which it appears in Cotton Claudius D2 where it is dated to 31 Edw. I (1303) is:
:}
;Magna Carta
:Although signed in 1215, Magna Carta was not ratified by Parliament until 1225, by which time it had become substantially abridged. Chapter 35 of Magna Carta of 1215 (which dealt with weights and measures) became chapter 25 of Magna Carta of 1225.

14th century

; 14 Edw. 3 Stat. 1. c. 12 (1340)
:
; 18 Edw. 3 Stat. 2. c. 4 (1344)
:
; 25 Edw. 3 Stat. 5. c. 9 (1350)Ruffhead (1763a)
p. 264

:
; 25 Edw. 3 Stat. 5. c. 10 (1350)
:
; 27 Edw. 3 Stat. 2. c. 10 (1353)
:
: A chapter of the Statute of the Staple that provides for justices to be appointed to hear charges of measuring fraud at the staple ports. Those found guilty were liable for quadruple damages and 2 years' imprisonment.
; 31 Edw. 3 Stat. 1. c. 2 (1357)
:
; 4 Ric. 2. c. 1 (1380)
:
; 13 Ric. 2. Stat. 1. c. 9 (1389)
:
; 15 Ric. 2. c. 4. (1391)
:
; 16 Ric. 2. c. 3. (1392)
:

15th century

;
1 Hen. 5. c. 10 (1413),
: ''An Act concerning the true Measure of Corn.''
;
2 Hen. 5. Stat. 2. c. 4 (1414)
:
:First notice of troy weight in statute.
;
8 Hen. 6. c. 5 (1429)
:
;
18 Hen. 6. c. 16 (1439)Ruffhead (1763a)
p. 594

:
;
18 Hen. 6. c. 17 (1439)
:''Vessels of Wine, Oyl, and Honey, shall be gauged.''
:
; 11 Hen. 7. c. 4 (1494)
:''An Act for Weights and Measures.''
:
;
12 Hen. 7. c. 5 (1496)
:''An Act for Weights and Measures.''
:

16th century

; ''Verdict of the Pyx'' 18 Henry VIII (1527)
:
;
23 Hen. 8. c. 4 (1531)
:''An Act that no Brewers of Beer or Ale shall make their Barrels, Kilderkins or Firkins within them, and how much the same Barrels, et cetera shall contain.''
;
24 Hen. 8. c. 3 (1532)Pickering (1763d)
p. 252

:''An Act for flesh to be sold by weight, and the prices limited.''
:
;
24 Hen. 8. c. 4 (1532)
:''An Act concerning sowing of Flax and Hemp.''
:
;
5 & 6 Edw. 6. c. 6 (1552)
:''An Act for the true making of Woolen Cloth.''
:
;
4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 5. par. IX (1557–58)
:''An act touching the making of woolen clothes.''
:
;
23 Eliz. 1. c. 8 (1581)
:''An Act touching the true melting, making and working of Wax.''
:
;
35 Eliz. 1. c. 6 (1593)
:''An Act against converting of great Houses into several Tenements, and for Restraint of Inmates and Inclosures, in and near about the City of ''London'' and ''Westminster''.''
:
:This is the codification and namesake of the statute mile.
;
35 Eliz. 1. c. 10. par. III (1593)
:''An act for the reformation of sundry abuses in clothes, called Devonshire kersies or dozens, according to a proclamation of the thirty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lady the Queen that now is.''
:

17th century

;
16 Cha. 1. c. 19 (1640)
:''An Act for the better ordering and regulating of the Office of Clerk of the Market, allowed and confirmed by this Statutes; and for the Reformation of false Weights and Measures.''
;
22 Cha. 2 c. 8 (1670)
:''An Act for ascertaining the Measures of Corn and Salt.''
:First mention of the Winchester bushel in statute.
;
22 & 23 Cha. 2. c. 12 (1670)
:''An additional Act for ascertaining the Measures of Corn and Salt.''
; 8 & 9 Will. 3 c. 22. s. 9 (1696–7)
:
:First definition of the Winchester bushel in statute (≈2,150.42 cubic inches).

18th century

;
11 Will. 3. c. 15 (1700)
:''An Act for ascertaining the Measures for retailing Ale and Beer.''
;
1 Ann. c. 9 (1701)
:''An Act to ascertain the Water Measure of Fruit.''

Great Britain

Acts of Parliament

18th century

( 6 Ann. c. 27)
:''An Act for continuing several Subsidies, Impositions and Duties and for making Provisions therein mentioned to raise Money by Way of Loan for the Service of the War, and other Her Majesty's necessary and important Occasions, and for ascertaining the Wine Measure.''
:
:This statute is the origin of the US gallon, also known as the Queen Anne Gallon, Queen Anne Wine Gallon, or pre-1824 British gallon.

( 10 Geo. 3. c. 44)
:''An Act for more effectually preventing Traders in exciseable Commodities from using false Weights and Scales and for explaining and amending several Acts of Parliament relating to Hackney Coaches and Chairs.''

( 35 Geo. 3. c. 102)
:''An Act for the more effectual Prevention of the Use of defective Weights, and of false and unequal Balances.''
;
( 37 Geo. 3. c. 143)
:''An Act to explain and amend an Act made in the thirty-fifth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the more effectual Prevention of the use of defective Weights, and of false and unequal Balances.''

19th century

( 55 Geo. 3. c. 43)
:''An Act for the more effectual Prevention of the Use of false and deficient Measures.''

( 5 Geo. 4. c. 74)
:''An Act for ascertaining and establishing Uniformity of Weights and Measures.''
:
:This is the origin of Imperial units. This statute repeals nearly all previous weights and measures legislation, listing them in chronological order (by regnal year but without dates) beginning with "ancient statutes of uncertain date".
:
:Section 23 of the act repealed 62 enactments, listed in that section, "so far as the same or any of them relate to the ascertaining or establishing any Standards of Weights and Measures or to the establishing or recognizing certain Differences between Weights and Measures of the same Denomination, but no farther or otherwise, shall, from and after the said First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, be and the same are hereby repealed; save and except only so far as any such Statutes or Acts, or any Part thereof, repeal any other Statutes or Acts, or any Part thereof, which relate to the ascertaining or establishing any Standard of Weights and Measures, or to the establishing or recognizing certain Differences between Weights and Measures of the same Denomination."

: The commencement of the act, and the repeal of enactments in section 23 of the act, was extended from 1 May 1825 to 1 January 1826 by section 1 of the Weights and Measures Act 1825 ( 6 Geo. 4. c. 12).

Section 24 of the act provided that nothing in the act would repeal the Westminster Act 1757 ( 31 Geo. 2. c. 17)

The qualified terms of repeal led to led to several acts being repealed by later Statute Law Revision Acts, including:

* Statute Law Revision Act 1863 ( 6 & 27 Vict. c. 125)
* Statute Law Revision Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 59)

( 6 Geo. 4 c. 12)

The act extended the commencement of the Weights and Measures Act 1824 ( 5 Geo. 4. c. 74), and the associated repeals of enactments by that act, from 1 May 1825 to 1 January 1826.

:''An Act to prolong the Time of the Commencement of an Act of the last Session of Parliament, for ascertaining and establishing Uniformity of Weights and Measures and to amend the said Act.''

( 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 49)
:''An Act to amend and render more effectual Two Acts of the Fifth and Sixth Years of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, relating to Weights and Measures.''

5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 63 (1835)
:Also known as the Weights and Measures Act 1835; originally entitled ''An Act to repeal an Act of the Fourth and Fifth Year of His present Majesty relating to Weights and Measures, and to make other Provisions instead thereof''.
:Established the imperial stone and hundredweight of 14 and 112 lbs. respectively, based on the wool stone of Edward III.

( 18 & 19 Vict. c. 72)
:''An Act for legalising and preserving the restored Standards of Weights and Measures.''
:The 1834 burning of Parliament had destroyed the physical standards referred to in earlier statues; the 1835 act ignored this fact. New copies were created in accordance with the advice of a scientific commission, and the 1855 act made them the "restored Standards".
:

( 22 & 23 Vict. c. 56)
:''An Act to amend the Act of the fifth and sixth years of King William the Fourth, chapter sixty-three, relating to weights and measures.''

( 27 & 28 Vict. c. 117)
:''An Act to render permissive the Use of the Metric System of Weights and Measures.''

( 41 & 42 Vict. c. 49)
:''An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Weights and Measures.''
:This statute abolished the troy pound, effective January 1879.
The majority of the act was repealed for Great Britain by section 63(1) of, and part I of schedule 9 to, the Weights and Measures Act 1963, namely:

* The whole act except sections 62 and 86 and so much of schedule 6 as relates to section of the Weights and Measures Act 1859 ( 22 & 23 Vict. c. 56)
* In section 86, the words from provided that onwards.
* In the said section as set out in Schedule 6, the words from “and shall have” to “ situate ”’.

Schedule 6 to the act was repealed by section 44(2) of, and part II of schedule 7 to, the Weights and Measures Act 1979.

Section 62 and the proviso to section 86, so far as unrepealed, were repealed by section 1(1) of, part XVII of schedule 1 to, the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977

The whole act was repealed for Northern Ireland by the
( 52 & 53 Vict. c. 21)
:''An Act for amending the Law relating to Weights and Measures and for other purposes connected therewith.''

( 55 & 56 Vict. c. 18)

( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 19)

( 60 & 61 Vict. c. 46)
:''An Act to legalise the Use of Weights and Measures of the Metric System.''
;
: This collective title encompassed the following acts:
:*Weights and Measures Act 1878 ( 41 & 42 Vict. c 49)
:*Weights and Measures Act 1889 ( 52 & 53 Vict. c 21)
:*Weights and Measures (Purchase) Act 1892 ( 55 & 56 Vict. c. 18)
:*Weights and Measures Act 1893 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 19)

20th century

( 4 Edw. 7 c. 28)

( 16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 8)

( 16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 63)

(c. 31)

(c. 77)

(c. 45)
: This act introduces the average quantity principle for packaged goods into UK law for the first time. The 1979 Act was replaced by Part V of the 1985 Act.

(c. 72)
:The act defines the four primary units of measurement as the metre or the yard (defined in terms of the metre) for length, and the kilogram or pound (defined in terms of the kilogram) for mass. The act also requires standard physical examples to be maintained (known as "United Kingdom primary standards") for each of the four primary units.
:In addition, the definitions of units which are multiples or sub-multiples of the primary units are defined, in terms of the primary units, and given as: mile, foot, inch, kilometre, decimetre, centimetre, millimetre, acre, square yard, square foot, hectare, decare, are, square metre, square decimetre, square centimetre, square millimetre, cubic metre, cubic decimetre, cubic centimetre, hectolitre, litre, decilitre, centilitre, millilitre, gallon, quart, pint, gill, fluid ounce, pound, ounce, ounce troy, tonne, kilogram, hectogram, gram, carat (metric) and milligram.
:As originally enacted, the act also defined, in the same way, units which could not be used for trade as: furlong, chain, square mile, rood, square inch, cubic yard, cubic foot, cubic inch, bushel, peck, fluid drachm, minim, ton, hundredweight, cental, quarter, stone, dram, grain, pennyweight, ounce apothecaries, drachm, scruple, metric ton and quintal.
:, following multiple amendments over the years since enactment, the metre, yard, kilogram and pound remain as the primary defined units and with the requirement to maintain the "United Kingdom primary standards" for them.
:At the same time, all the imperial units, except pint and ounce troy (but including all of those which were originally defined as not to be used for trade) were reclassified as being available for use for trade as supplementary indications, namely: mile, furlong, chain, yard, foot, inch, square mile, acre, rood, square yard, square foot, square inch, cubic yard, cubic foot, cubic inch, bushel, peck, gallon, quart, gill, fluid ounce, fluid drachm, minim, ton, hundredweight, cental, quarter, stone, pound, ounce, dram, grain, pennyweight, ounce apothecaries, drachm, scruple and quintal. The tonne was also reclassified as being available for use for trade as a supplementary unit of measure,

Northern Ireland

* (c. 6 (N.I.))

* ( SI 1981/231)

* (c. 5 (N.I.))

See also

* Other weights and measures acts

Notes

References

External links

*
*
Confident Consumers – Buying and Selling – Weights and Measures from the Department of Trade and IndustryA Dictionary of Units
Originally from Exeter University

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Acts of the Parliament of England
Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain
Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Law of the United Kingdom
Metrication in the United Kingdom
Standards organisations in the United Kingdom
Trading standards