Technikatörténeti szemle 10. (1978)

A MÉRÉS ÉS A MÉRTÉKEK AZ EMBER MŰVELŐDÉSÉBEN című konferencián Budapesten, 1976. április 27–30-án elhangzott előadások II. - Zupko, R. E.: Angol súlyok és mértékek

and measures had been more effective. This second procedure, whose origins pre-date the Norman Conquest, was formally inaugurated in 1215 when King John was forced to accept the Magna Carta. Chapter 35 of this charter called for the establishment of a uniform system of weights and measures throughout England. It did not succeed in accomplishing this goal, but it did start a trend, because this same appeal was repeated in various pieces of legislation on the average of twelve times every, century thereafter. Interspersed were almost one hundred assizes which attempted to regulate the quality, quantity, weight, measure, and price of articles for sale; several hundred ordinances, statutes, and acts, or portions thereof, which sought to define the common weights and measures, particularly those used in regional and interregional trade; and innumerable parliamentary writs and petitions which pertained to almost every conceivable aspect of English metrology. One reason for the ineffectiveness of this particular procedure was the rather loose manner in which various pieces of legislation were framed. The standards were often alluded to, but generally they were not defined or even identified.

17 Another reason was the prodigious number of these legislative enactments; a proper or thorough knowledge of weights and measures became more and more difficult to attain. Each new law seemed to make room for some exception, which, being a departure from the principle of uniformity, was probably a precedent for another. There were constant repetitions and redundancies. Many laws favored certain localities and certain aristocratic interests to the detriment of other localities and other social classes. The frequent repeals seriously affected citizens' responses to new laws and made the task of enforcement increasingly more complex.

18 Coupled with the state standards and legislative enactments were the metrological agencies and officials appointed by Crown and Parliament to test and verify weights and measures standards and to enforce statutory provisions. But this third procedure fared no better than those already mentioned because throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern period there were too many people involved. Townsmen acting individually or as members of ad hoc commissions, manorial lords, abbots, abbesses, priors, chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge universities, bishops and archbishops, mayors, guilds, port officials, aulnagers, leet courts, justices of assize and of oyer and terminer, justices of laborers, sheriffs, and coroners fulfilled certain functions in urban and rural management of weights and measures alongside clerks of the market and justices of the peace. They customarily made periodic inspections, generally annually or semi-annually, for the purpose of testing weights and measures. They sealed, mended, or burned individual weights and measures depending on the results of their private or public hearings and they levied fines or imposed various forms of corporal punishment on violators. They were occasionally entrusted with the safekeeping of state and local standards. With so many officials involved and with so many confusing and overlapping jurisdictions, corruption and fraud became too prevalent and the program of metrological standardization was seriously impeded Britain would have to await the massive reforms initiated in 1824 and 1965 before success could be achieved.