Weights and Measures Act 1878
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Weights and Measures Act, 1878
(41 & 42 Vict.) CHAPTER 49.
An Act to consolidate the Law relating to Weights and Measures.
[8th August 1878]
B E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theWeights and Measures Act, 1878.
2 Commencement.
2. This Act shall not come into operation until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, which day is herein-after referred to as the commencement of this Act.
I.—Law of Weights and Measures.
Uniformity of Weights and Measures.
3 Uniformity of weights and measures.
3. The same weights and measures shall be used throughout the United Kingdom.
Standards of Measure and Weight.
4 Imperial standards of measure and weight.
4. The bronze bar and the platinum weight, more particularly described in the first part of the First Schedule to this Act, and at the passing of this Act deposited in the Standards Department of the Board of Trade in the custody of the Warden of the Standards, shall continue to be the imperial standards of measure and weight, and the said bronze bar shall continue to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard yard for the United Kingdom, and the said platinum weight shall continue to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard pound for the United Kingdom.
5 Parliamentary copies of imperial standards.
5. The four copies of the imperial standards of measure and weight, described in the second part of the First Schedule to this Act, and deposited as therein mentioned, shall be deemed to be parliamentary copies of the said imperial standards.
The Board of Trade shall as soon as may be after the commencement of this Act cause an accurate copy of the imperial standard of measure and an accurate copy of the imperial standard of weight to be made of the same form and material as the said standards, and it shall be lawful for Her Majesty in Council, on the representation of the Board of Trade, to approve the copies so made, and the copies when so approved shall be of the same effect as the said parliamentary copies, and are in this Act included under the name parliamentary copies of the imperial standards of measure and weight.
6 Restoration of imperial standards.
6. If at any time either of the imperial standards of measure and weight is lost or in any manner destroyed, defaced, or otherwise injured, the Board of Trade may cause the same to be restored by reference to or adoption of any of the parliamentary copies of that standard, or of such of them as may remain available for that purpose.
7 Restoration of parliamentary copies.
7. If at any time any of the parliamentary copies of either of the imperial standards is lost or in any manner destroyed, defaced, or otherwise injured, the Board of Trade may cause the same to be restored by reference either to the corresponding imperial standard, or to one of the other parliamentary copies of that standard.
8 Secondary \(Board of Trade) standards of measure and weight.
8. The secondary standards of measure and weight which, having been derived from the imperial standards, are at the commencement of this Act in use under the direction of the Board of Trade, and are mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act, and no others (save as herein-after mentioned), shall be secondary standards of measure and weight, and shall be called Board of Trade standards.
If at any time any of such standards is lost or in any manner destroyed, defaced, or otherwise injured, the Board of Trade may cause the same to be restored by reference either to one of the imperial standards or to one of the parliamentary copies of those standards.
The Board of Trade shall from time to time cause such new denominations of standards, being either equivalent to or multiples or aliquot parts of the imperial weights and measures ascertained by this Act, or being equivalent to or multiples of each coin of the realm for the time being, as appear to them to be required, in addition to those mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act, to be made and duly verified, and those new denominations of standards when approved by Her Majesty in Council shall be Board of Trade standards in like manner as if they were mentioned in the said schedule.
It shall be lawful for Her Majesty by Order in Council to declare that a Board of Trade standard for the time being of any denomination, whether mentioned in the said schedule or approved by Order in Council, shall cease to be such a standard.
Such standards of the Board of Trade as are equivalent to or multiples of any coin of the realm for the time being shall be standard weights for determining the justness of the weight of and for weighing such coin.
9 Local standards of measure and weight.
9. The standards of measure and weight which are at the commencement of this Act legally in use by inspectors of weights and measures for the purpose of verification or inspection, and all copies of the Board of Trade standards which after the commencement of this Act are compared with those standards and verified by the Board of Trade for the purpose of being used by inspectors of weights and measures under this Act as standards for the verification or inspection of weights and measures, shall be called local standards.
Imperial Measures of Length.
10 Imperial standard yard.
10. The staight line or distance between the centres of the two gold plugs or pins (as mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act) in the bronze bar by this Act declared to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard yard measured when the bar is at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and when it is supported on bronze rollers placed under it in such manner as best to avoid flexure of the bar, and to facilitate its free expansion and contraction from variations of temperature, shall be the legal standard measure of length, and shall be called the imperial standard yard, and shall be the only unit or standard measure of extension from which all other measures of extension, whether linear superficial or solid, shall be ascertained.
11 Linear measures derived from imperial standard yard.
11. One third part of the imperial standard yard shall be a foot, and the twelfth part of such foot shall be an inch, and the rod, pole, or perch in length shall contain five such yards and a half, and the chain shall contain twenty-two such yards, the furlong two hundred and twenty such yards, and the mile one thousand seven hundred and sixty such yards.
12 Superficial measures derived from the imperial standard yard.
12. The rood of land shall contain one thousand two hundred and ten square yards according to the imperial standard yard, and the acre of land shall contain four thousand eight hundred and forty such square yards, being one hundred and sixty square rods, poles, or perches.
Imperial Measures of Weight and Capacity.
13 Imperial standard pound.
13. The weight in vacu of the platinum weight (mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act), and by this Act declared to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard pound, shall be the legal standard measure of weight, and of measure having reference to weight, and shall be called the imperial standard pound, and shall be the only unit or standard measure of weight from which all other weights and all measures having reference to weight shall be ascertained.
14 Imperial weights derived from imperial standard pound.
14. One sixteenth part of the imperial standard pound shall be an ounce, and one sixteenth part of such ounce shall be a dram, and one seven thousandth part of the imperial standard pound shall be a grain.
A stone shall consist of fourteen imperial standard pounds, and a hundredweight shall consist of eight such stones, and a ton shall consist of twenty such hundredweights.
Four hundred and eighty grains shall be an ounce troy.
All the foregoing weights except the ounce troy shall be deemed to be avoirdupois weights.
15 Imperial measures of capacity.
15. The unit or standard measure of capacity from which all other measures of capacity, as well for liquids as for dry goods, shall be derived, shall be the gallon containing ten imperial standard pounds weight of distilled water weighed in air against brass weights, with the water and the air at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and with the barometer at thirty inches.
The quart shall be one fourth part of the gallon, and the pint shall be one eighth part of the gallon.
Two gallons shall be a peck, and eight gallons shall be a bushel, and eight such bushels shall be a quarter, and thirty-six such bushels shall be a chaldron.
16 Measure of capacity for goods formerly sold by heaped measure.
16. A...
To continue reading
Request your trial