Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/291

rent proportions, our antient hiſtorians^[1] inform us, that a new ſtandard of longitudinal meaſure was aſcertained by king Henry the firſt; who commanded that the ulna or antient ell, which anſwers to the modern yard, ſhould be made of the exact length of his own arm. And, one ſtandard of meaſures of length being gained, all others are eaſily derived from thence; thoſe of greater length by multiplying, thoſe of leſs by ſubdividing, that original ſtandard. Thus, by the ſtatute called compoſitio ulnarum et perticarum, five yards and an half make a perch; and the yard is ſubdivided into three feet, and each foot into twelve inches; which inches will be each of the length of three grains of barley. Superficial meaſures are derived by ſquaring thoſe of length; and meaſures of capacity by cubing them. The ſtandard of weights was originally taken from corns of wheat, whence the loweſt denomination of weights we have is ſtill called a grain; thirty two of which are directed, by the ſtatute called compoſitio menſurarum, to compoſe a penny weight, whereof twenty make an ounce, twelve ounces a pound, and ſo upwards. And upon theſe principles the firſt ſtandards were made; which, being originally ſo fixed by the crown, their ſubſequent regulations have been generally made by the king in parliament. Thus, under king Richard I, in his parliament holden at Weſtminſter, A. D. 1197, it was ordained that there ſhall be only one weight and one meaſure throughout the kingdom, and that the cuſtody of the aſſiſe or ſtandard of weights and meaſures ſhall be committed to certain perſons in every city and borough^[2]; from whence the antient office of the king's aulnager ſeems to have been derived, whoſe duty it was, for a certain fee, to meaſure all cloths made for ſale, till the office was aboliſhed by the ſtatute 11 & 12 W. III. c. 20. In king John's time this ordinance of king Richard was frequently diſpenſed with for money^[3]; which occaſioned a proviſion to be made for inforcing it, in the great charters of king John and his ſon^[4]. Theſe original ſtandards were called pondus regis^[5], and

1. William of Malmſb. in vita Hen. I. Spelm. Hen. I. apud Wilkins. 299.
2. Hoved. Matth. Paris.
3. Hoved. A. D. 1201.
4. 9 Hen. III. c. 25.
5. Plac. 35 Edw. I. apud Cowel's Interpr.: tit. pondus regis.