Weights and Measures

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 325

A comprehensive legal term for uniform standards ascribed to the quantity, capacity, volume, or dimensions of anything.

The regulation of weights and measures is necessary for science, industry, and commerce. The importance of establishing uniform national standards was demonstrated by the drafters of the U.S. Constitution, who gave Congress in Article 1, Section 8, the power to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." During the nineteenth century, the Office of Standard Weights and Measures regulated measurements. In 1901 it became the National Bureau of Standards, and in 1988 it was renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The states may also regulate weights and measures, provided their regulations are not in opposition to any act of Congress. Legislation that adopts and mandates the use of uniform system of weights and measures is a valid exercise of the POLICE POWER, and such laws are constitutional. In the early twentieth century the National Bureau of Standards coordinated standards among states and held annual conferences at which a model state law of weights and measures was updated. This effort has resulted in almost complete uniformity of state laws.

Though U.S. currency was settled in a decimal form, Congress has retained the English

The weight of evidence is based on the credibility and persuasiveness of evidence. A witness in the trial of a man accused of firebombing a New York subway car in 1994 offered testimony based on her personal observation of the defendant shortly before the attack.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

weights and measures systems. France adopted the metric system in the 1790s, starting an international movement to make the system a universal standard, replacing national and regional variants that made scientific and commercial communication difficult. THOMAS JEFFERSON was an early advocate of the metric system and in an 1821 report to Congress, Secretary of State JOHN QUINCY ADAMS urged its acceptance. However, Congress stead-fastly refused.

Despite...