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Composition of Yards and Perches
Medieval English statute of measure
Medieval English statute of measure
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| short_title | Composition of Yards and Perches |
| type | Act |
| parliament | Parliament of England |
| long_title | Compositio Ulnarum et Perticarum |
| citation | Stat. Temp. Incert. |
| territorial_extent | |
| repeal_date | 10 August 1872 |
| amendments | |
| repealing_legislation | Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 |
| related_legislation | Statute for the Measuring of Land |
| status | Repealed |
| original_text | https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915496&seq=393 |
The Composition of Yards and Perches () or the Statute of Ells and Perches was a medieval English statute defining the length of the barleycorn, inch, foot, yard, and perch, as well as the area of the acre. Its date has been estimated at 1266–1303.
The Composition of Yards and Perches belongs to a class of documents known as Statutes of uncertain date generally thought to be from c. 1250 to 1305. Although not originally statutes, they gradually acquired the force of law. In some early statute books Composition of Yards and Perches was appended to another statute of uncertain date, the Statute for the Measuring of Land also known as Statutum de Admensuratione Terrase [An Ordinance for Measuring of Land], sometimes listed as 33° Edward I. st. 6. (1305).
The Latin text from the manuscript known as BL Cotton MS Claudius D 2 is translated in Ruffhead's Statutes at Large) as
A similar statement is made in Liber Horn (as published in The Statutes of the Realm):
Status
The act was extended to Ireland by Poynings' Law 1495 (10 Hen. 7. c. 22 (I)).
The Composition of Yards and Perches was repealed by section 23 of the Weights and Measures Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 74), with savings.
The whole act was repealed for England and Wales by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 125) and for Ireland by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 98).
Notes
References
References
- Ronald Edward Zupko. (1977). "British weights & measures: a history from antiquity to the seventeenth century". University of Wisconsin Press.
- Ruffhead, Owen. (1765). "Statutes at Large {{!}}From the second year of the reign of King George the Third {{!}} And an Appendix consisting of O[illegible]s and Curious Acts, some of which were never [b]efore printed". Printed by M. Baskett.
- Fowler, W.. (1884). "Transactions". Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
- Parliament of the United Kingdom. (1824). "The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1807-1865)".
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