ginal standard. Thus, by the ftatute called compofitio ulnarum et perticarum, five yards and a half make a perch; and the yard is fubdivided 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 fquaring 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 ftill called a grain; thirty-two of which are di rected, by the ftatute called compofitio menfurarum, to compose a penny weight, whereof twenty make an ounce, twelve ounces a pound, and fo upwards. And upon thefe principles the first standards were made; which, being originally fo fixed by the crown, their fubfequent regulations have been generally made by the king in parliament. Thus, under king Richard I, in his parliament holden at Westminfter, A.D. 1197, it was ordained that there fhould be only one weight and one measure throughout the kingdom, and that the cuftody of the affife or ftandard of weights and meafures fhould be committed to certain perfons in every city and borough °; from whence the antient office of the king's aulnager feems to have been derived, whose duty it was, for a certain fee, to measure all cloths made for fale, till the office was abolished by the ftatute 11 & 12 W. III. c. 20. In king John's time this ordinance of king Richard was frequently difpenfed with for money P; which occafioned a [276] provifion to be made for inforcing it, in the great charters of king John and his fon 9. These original standards were called pondus regis', and menfura domini regis ; and are directed by a variety of fubfequent ftatutes to be kept in the exchequer, and all weights and measures to be made conformable thereto. But, as fir Edward Coke obferves", though this hath fo often by authority of parliament been BOOK I. enacted, yet it could never be effected; fo forcible is custom with the multitude (16). THIRDLY, as money is the medium of commerce, it is the king's prerogative, as the arbiter of domestic commerce, to give it authority or make it current. Money is an univerfal medium, or common ftandard, by comparison with which the value of all merchandize may be afcertained: or it is a fign, which reprefents the refpective values of all commodities. Metals are well calculated for this fign, because they are durable and are capable of many fubdivifions: and a precious metal is ftill better calculated for this purpofe, because it is the moft portable. A metal is alfo the most proper for a common measure, because it can easily be reduced to the fame standard in all nations: and every particular nation fixes on it it's own impreflion, that the weight and standard (wherein confifts the intrinfic value) may both be known by inspection only. As the quantity of precious metals increases, that is, the more of them there is extracted from the mine, this univerfal (16) The regulation of weights and measures cannot with propriety be referred to the king's prerogative; for from magnacharta to the prefent time there are above twenty acts of parliament to fix and establish the fandard and uniformity of weights fad meafures. Two important cafes upon this fubject have lately been determined by the court of king's bench; one was, that although there had been a custom in a town to fell butter by eighteen ounces to the pound, yet the jury of the court-leet were not justified in feizing the butter of a perfon who fold pounds lefs than that, but more than fixteen ounces each, the ftatutable weight. 3 T. R. 271. In the other it was determined, that no practice or ufage could countervail the statutes 22 Car. II. c. 8. and 22 & 23 Car. II. c. 12. which enact, that if any perfon fhall either fell or buy grain or falt by any other meafure than the Winchefter bufhel, he fhall forfeit forty fhillings, and alfo the value of the grain or falt fo fold or bought one half to the poor, the other to the informer. The King and Major, 4 T. R. 750. medium or common fign will fink in value, and grow lefs precious. Above a thousand millions of bullion are calculated to have been imported into Europe from America within less than three centuries; and the quantity is daily increafing. The confequence is, that more money must be given now for the fame commodity than was given an hundred years ago. [ 277 ] And, if any accident were to diminish the quantity of gold and filver, their value would proportionably rife. A horfe, that was formerly worth ten pounds, is now perhaps worth twenty; and, by any failure of current fpecie, the price may be reduced to what it was. Yet is the horfe in reality neither dearer nor cheaper at one time than another : for, if the metal which conflitutes the coin was formerly twice as fcarce as at prefent, the commodity was then as dear at half the price, as now it is at the whole (17). (17) In confidering the prices of articles in antient times, regard must be always had to the weight of the fhilling, or the quantity of filver which it contained at different periods. From the conqueft till the 20th year of Edw. III. a pound sterling was actually a pound troy weight of filver, which was divided into twenty fhilings; fo if ten pounds at that time were the price of a horfe, the fame quantity of filver was paid for it as is now given, if it's price is thirty pounds. This therefore is one great caufe of the apparent difference in the prices of commodities in antient and modern times. About the year 1347, Edw. III. coined twenty-two fhillings out of a pound; and five years afterwards he coined twenty-five shillings out of the fame quantity. Henry V. in the beginning of his reign, divided the pound into thirty fhillings, and then of confequence each fhilling was double the weight of a shilling at prefent. Henry VII. increafed the number to forty, which was the standard number till the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. She then coined a pound of fterling filver into fixty-two fhillings, which divifion has ever fince remained without alteration; fo every ounce of coined filver fince that time has been equal to five fhillings and two-pence. (See MONEY in the Index to Hume's Hift. J Dr. Adam Smith, at the end of his first volume, has given tables. specifying the average prices of wheat for five-hundred and fifty years back, and has reduced for each year the money of that time into the money of the prefent day. But in his calculation he has THE coining of money is in all states the act of the fovereign power; for the reafon juft mentioned, that it's value may be known on inspection. And with refpect to coinage in general, there are three things to be confidered therein; the materials, the impreffion, and the denomination. WITH regard to the materials, fir Edward Coke lays it down", that the money of England must either be of gold w2 Inft. 577 called the pound fince Elizabeth's time fixty fhillings. Taking it at that rate, we may eafily find the equivalent in modern money of any fum in ancient time, if we know the number of fhillings which weighed a pound, by this fimple rule; As the number of shillings in a pound at that time is to fixty, fo is any fum at that time to it's equivalent at prefent; as for inftance, in the time of Hen. V. as thirty fhillings are to fixty fhillings now, fo ten pounds then were equal to twenty pounds of prefent money. The increase in the quantity of the precious metals does not neceffarily increase the price of articles of commerce; for if the quantities of thefe articles are augmented in the fame proportion as the quantity of money, it is clear there will be the same use, demand, or price for money as before, and no effect will be produced in the price of commodities. If gold and filver could have been kept in the country, the immenfe increase of paper currency, or substitution of paper for coin, would have diminished it's value, and have increased the prices of labour and commodities far beyond the effect that has been produced by the discovery of the mines in America. The effect they have produced is general, and extended to the whole world; but the increase of our paper has only a tendency to leffen the value of money at home, which never can take place to any great degree, as it will naturally feek a better market, or be carried where more will be given for it; and by the fubftitution of a cheaper medium of commerce, the difference in value is added to the capital or to the real strength of the nation. Gold and filver form an infignificant part of the real wealth of a commercial country. The whole quantity of fpecie has been estimated at about twenty millions only, not much more than what is raised in one year for the fupport of government. or or filver; and none other was ever iffued by the royal authority till 1672, when copper farthings and half-pence were coined by king Charles the fecond, and ordered by procla mation to be current in all payments, under the value of fixpence, and not otherwife. But this copper coin is not upon the fame footing with the other in many refpects, particularly with regard to the offence of counterfeiting it. And, as to the filver coin, it is enacted by ftatute 14 Geo. III. c. 42. that no tender of payment in filver money, exceeding twentyfive pounds at one time, fhall be a fufficient tender in law, for more than it's value by weight, at the rate of 5s. 2d, an ounce (18). As to the impreffion, the ftamping thereof is the unqueftionable prerogative of the crown: for, though divers bishops and monafteries had formerly the privilege of coining money, yet, as fir Matthew Hale obferves ", this was ufually. done by special grant from the king, or by prescription which supposes one; and therefore was derived from, and not in [278] derogation of, the royal prerogative. Befides that they had only the profit of the coinage, and not the power of inftituting either the impreffion or denomination; but had ufually the ftamp fent them from the exchequer. THE denomination, or the value for which the coin is to pafs current, is likewife in the breast of the king; and, if any unusual pieces are coined, that value must be afcertained by proclamation. In order to fix the value, the weight and the fineness of the metal are to be taken into confideration together. When a given weight of gold or filver is of a given fineness, it is then of the true standard *, and called w I Hift. P. C. 191. x This ftandard hath been frequently varied in former times; but hath for many years paft been thus invariably fettled. The pound troy of gold, con- (18) This was a clause in a temporary act, which was continued till 1783, fince which time 1 do not find that it has been revived. |