Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866

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Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866[1]
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act to amend the Acts relating to the Standard Weights and Measures and to the Standard Trial Pieces of the Coin of the Realm.
Citation29 & 30 Vict. c. 82
Dates
Royal assent6 August 1866

The Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866[1] (29 & 30 Vict. c. 82) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Details[edit]

The act created a department of the Board of Trade called the Standard Weights and Measures Department.[2] This department was responsible for maintaining the weights and measures used in the country – in particular, the primary and secondary standards, the physical "master" weights and lengths that other measuring devices could be compared against.[3][4] These had previously been the responsibility of the Exchequer.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b This short title was conferred on this Act by section 16 of this Act.
  2. ^ Turner 1983, p. 51
  3. ^ Turner 1983, p. 51
  4. ^ Taylor 1991, p. 25

References[edit]

  • Taylor, A. J. (1991) [1965]. The Jewel Tower: Westminster (2nd ed.). London, UK: English Heritage. ISBN 9781850743637.
  • Turner, Gerald L'E. (1983). Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instruments. Berkeley, US and Los Angeles, US: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520051607.