weights and measures units and standards for expressing the amount of some quantity, such as length, capacity, or weight; the science of measurement standards and methods is known as metrology.

Crude systems of weights and measures probably date from prehistoric times. Early units were commonly based on body measurements and on plant seeds or other objects from agriculture. As civilization progressed, technological and commercial requirements led to increased standardization. For example, because the length of the human foot or the width of the palm varies from individual to individual, it probably became necessary first to specify a particular individual (e.g., the king) and later to reproduce standards based on this commonly accepted unit of length. Units were usually fixed by edict of local or national rulers and were subdivided and multiplied or otherwise arranged into systems of measurement.

Standards varied greatly in different localities, although conquest and trade stimulated some correspondence between systems, e.g., between the systems of Egypt, Babylon, and Phoenicia. A high degree of standardization was achieved in the Roman Empire, but after its fall considerable diversity returned. The foot, which was one of the earliest units, is believed to have had as many as 280 variants in Europe as late as the 18th cent. Today the chief systems are the English units of measurement and the metric system .

The United States is one of the few countries still using the English system; all other major nations have either converted to the metric system or committed themselves to conversion. The English system is much older and less practical than the metric system, and in the United States there has been considerable discussion in favor of adopting the metric system as the principal system. However, attempts to legislate such a change in the U.S. Congress have failed. The basic units of the English system, the yard of length and the pound of mass, are now defined in terms of the metric standards, the meter of length and the kilogram of mass.

Before 1960 the meter was defined as the distance between two scratches on a prototype bar kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (est. 1875) at Sèvres, France, near Paris. In 1960 it was redefined in terms of an atomic standard. This new standard is more stable than the old meter bar, is indestructible, and is easily reproduced, eliminating the need for periodic comparison with a single standard. The kilogram is defined in terms of a prototype cylinder kept at the bureau.

In the United States, Congress has the constitutional right to fix standards, but except for purposes of customs and internal revenue, weights and measures legislation has been, for the most part, permissive. Sets of official weights and measures were sent to the states in 1856, but legislation and enforcement are largely state prerogatives. The federal government permitted the use of the metric system in 1866 and established a conversion table based on the yard and the pound; in 1893 the yard and the pound were redefined in terms of the metric prototypes of the meter and the kilogram. The major arguments against total conversion to the metric system in the United States are that it would involve great expense in industry and would cause widespread confusion among the general public.

See the table entitled Common Weights and Measures .

Bibliography: See M. Blocksma, Reading the Numbers (1989).

weights and measures. The history of weights and measures in Britain is dominated by efforts at standardization, nationally and locally, for many variations existed for measures in the different countries of the British Isles.

In England, Saxon weights and measures, based roughly on the standards prescribed by Offa, king of Mercia, were used for centuries, being confirmed after the Norman Conquest by William I and subsequently in 1215 by Magna Carta. The ounce was approximately 450 grains, i.e. slightly heavier than the modern one. An ordinance of Henry III in 1266 defined both coinage and commercial weights for the first time. There was some effort to relate English weights to those of the cities of the Hanseatic league, the principal market for wool, the country's major export. This act established a 16-ounce pound for commercial weight.

A new standard of bulk weight was enacted by Edward III in 1340, when the treasury at Winchester became the repository for weights with denominations of 7, 14, 28, 56, and 91 lbs. The standard corresponded roughly with that of Florence, another major market for English wool, indicating that one stone should weigh 14 lbs. During the reign of Henry VII, weights and measures were put on a statutory basis by an Act of 1497 and later under Elizabeth I a series of ordinances culminated with that of 1588 aimed to standardize bulk and precious metal weights. The hundredweight and the ton were standardized at 112 lb. and 20 cwt. (2,240 lb.) respectively. These Acts also set standards for liquid and linear measures, which were distributed to all the main cities and boroughs in England and Wales, though adoption was gradual and inspection difficult.

North of the border, despite similar attempts to disentangle the confusing system of Scottish weights and measures, there was no serious attack on the problem until the Restoration. In 1661 a parliamentary commission proposed the introduction of national standards with certain burghs having custody of particular weights and measures. Accordingly, Edinburgh would keep the ell for linear measure, Linlithgow the firlot for dry measure, Lanark the troy stone for weight, and Stirling the jug for liquid capacity.

The Union of 1707 should have brought standardization throughout Great Britain but in reality it was not until an Act of 1824 that the uniformity recommended by the Carysfort parliamentary inquiry in 1758–60 was statutorily established. British standards then became known as imperial measure. More precise instruments, particularly for use in scientific experiments and in cartography, led to greater standardization of both weights and measures.

While many attempts have subsequently been made to substitute metric for imperial measure, the former, though widely used in industry, and scientific and professional spheres, has not yet replaced traditional standards. A further step towards standard metrification with Europe was taken in 1995, though, as an act of kindness, the British people were allowed to continue to drink pints of milk or pints of beer, and to travel, if they wished, in miles.

Ian Donnachie

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

A comprehensive legal term for uniform standards ascribed to the quantity, capacity, volume, or dimensions of anything.

The regulation of weights and measures is necessary for science, industry, and commerce. The importance of establishing uniform national standards was demonstrated by the drafters of the U.S. Constitution, who gave Congress in Article 1, Section 8, the power to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." During the nineteenth century, the Office of Standard Weights and Measures regulated measurements. In 1901 it became the National Bureau of Standards, and in 1988 it was renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The states may also regulate weights and measures, provided their regulations are not in opposition to any act of Congress. Legislation that adopts and mandates the use of uniform system of weights and measures is a valid exercise of the police power, and such laws are constitutional. In the early twentieth century the National Bureau of Standards coordinated standards among states and held annual conferences at which a model state law of weights and measures was updated. This effort has resulted in almost complete uniformity of state laws.

Though U.S. currency was settled in a decimal form, Congress has retained the English

weights and measures systems. France adopted the metric system in the 1790s, starting an international movement to make the system a universal standard, replacing national and regional variants that made scientific and commercial communication difficult. thomas jefferson was an early advocate of the metric system and in an 1821 report to Congress, Secretary of State john quincy adams urged its acceptance. However, Congress stead-fastly refused.

Despite hostility to making the metric system the official U.S. system of weights and measures, its use was authorized in 1866. The United States also became a signatory to the Metric Convention of 1875, and received copies of the International Prototype Meter and the International Prototype Kilogram in 1890. In 1893 the Office of Weights and Measures announced that the prototype meter and kilogram would be recognized as fundamental standards from which customary units, the yard and the pound, would be derived.

The metric system has been adopted by many segments of U.S. commerce and industry, as well as by virtually all of the medical and scientific professions. The international acceptance of the metric system led Congress in 1968 to authorize a study to determine whether the United States should convert. Though the resulting 1971 report recommended shifting to the metric system over a ten-year period, Congress declined to pass appropriate legislation.

further readings

Bartlett, David F., ed. 1980. The Metric Debate. Boulder: Colorado Associated Univ. Press.

measures, weights, and values A table reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press from the Revised English Bible.

No precise modern equivalents can be given for the units of measurement, weight, and value used in the ancient world, which themselves varied at different times, in different places, and in different contexts of use. The approximate equivalents given below may be helpful as an indication of the order of magnitude implied by a particular term.

Coins

The ‘daric’ (1 Chr. 29: 7) was a gold coin weighing just over 8 grammes, said to have been equivalent to a month's pay for a soldier in the Persian army. What is referred to as a ‘drachma’ (Neh. 7: 70) may have been a silver coin of about 4.4 grammes.

The ‘denarius’ of the New Testament (Mark 14: 5) is said to have been the equivalent of a day's wage for a labourer.

weights and measures The law in OT times demanded honest weights and measures (Lev. 19: 35 f.), though this was not always observed (Amos 8: 4–5). There was no unified system covering the whole country. Metals were weighed in talents; one was divisible into 60 minas of 60 shekels each, but the weight of a shekel varied.

Height and length were measured in the OT in cubits; dry capacity in homers, which could be loaded on a donkey, or ephahs, containers which could hold a person (Zech. 5:7). Liquids were measured by a bath (72 litres) and a hin (1/6 of a bath).

In the NT talents are mentioned in the parable in Matt. 18: 23 ff. A talent weighed perhaps 36 kg. or a hundredweight (Rev. 16: 21); a pound (John 12: 3) was the Roman libra—about 317 g. or 12 ounces.

Distance and length and height in the NT are measured in terms of cubits (Matt. 6: 27, AV, NRSV marg.), and a boat ‘two hundred cubits from the shore’ (John 21: 8, AV, NRSV marg.) would have been about half a stadion or 91.4 m. (100 yards) away (REB, NJB). The ‘mile’ of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5: 41) would have been the Roman mile of 5,000 Roman feet (1,480 m. or 1,618 yards). Capacity is measured in the NT by Roman measures, so that a ‘firkin’ (AV, RV, John 2: 6) would have been from 91 to 136 litres or about 20 to 30 gallons (NRSV, REB, NJB).

weights and measures Agreed units for expressing the amount of some quantity, such as capacity, length or weight. Early measurements were based on body measurements and on plant grains. The French introduced the metric system in 1799, in which the unit of length, the metre, was taken as one ten millionth of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. A litre was the volume occupied by one kilogram of water. SI units, proposed in 1960, have expanded and replaced the metric system for scientific purposes. The British system of imperial units, has almost entirely been replaced by the metric system for everyday measurements, but not in the USA.