Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866

Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the Acts relating to the Standard Weights and Measures and to the Standard Trial Pieces of the Coin of the Realm.
Citation	29 & 30 Vict. c. 82
Dates
Royal assent	6 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

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

References

• 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.