Measure

A means or standard for computing amount; a certain quantity of something, taken for a unit, and which expresses a relation with other quantities of the same thing.

A means or standard for computing amount. A certain quantity of something, taken for a unit, which expresses a relation with other quantities of the same thing. Before the Conquest, the measures for the things a man handles are the thumb, span, cubit, ell; for the ground, the foot and pace; for large spaces and distances, recourse was had to time — labour — units; the day’s Journey, and the morning’s plowing. Maitl. Domesd. Book and Beyond 368. A cloth ell, or cloth yard, becomes a standard; one third of it is a foot and one thirty-sixth of it a thumb or inch, and flve and one-half yards is a land measure — a rod. Again, one rod will represent the arm of an average man; a longer rod may serve to mediate between very Intricate.^ Maitland, Domesday Book 868. The constitution of the United States gives power to congress to “fix the standard of weights and measures.” Art. 1, s. 8. The states, it seems, possess the power to legislate on this subject, or, at least, the existing standards at the adoption of the constitution remain in full force; 3 Story, Const. 21; Rawle, Const. 102; but this constitutional power is exclusive in congress when exercised; Weaver v. Fegely, 29 Pa. 27, 70 Am. Dec. 151. By a resolution of congress, of Juno 14, 1836, the secretary of the treasury is directed to cause a complete set of all weights and measures adopted as standards, and now either made or in the progress of manufacture, for the use of the several custom-houses add for other purposes, to be delivered to the governor of each state in the Union, or to such person as he may appoint, for the use of the states respectively, to tho end that a uniform standard of weights and measures may he established throughout the United States. The act of March 3, 1881, requires the same to be furnished to such agricultural colleges in every state as have received grants of land from the United States. By act of March 3, 1893, a standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel was established. The act of July 12, 1894, defined and established units of electrical measure: ohm, unit of resistance; ampere, unit of current; volt, unit of electro-motive force; coulomb, unit of quantity; farad, unit of capacity; Joule, unit of work; watt, unit of power; henry, unit of Induction. The act of March 3, 1901, established a national bureau of standards, with custody of the standards, and in charge of the comparison of standards, testing and calibration, etc. The bureau exercises its functions for the government; for ac^ state or municipal government; or for any scientific society, educational institution, corporation or individual engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. For all service, except for the government or state governments, a reasonable fee is charged according to a schedule made by the secretary of the treasury. A visiting committee of five members, appointed by the secretary of the treasury, consisting of men prominent in the various interests involved and not in the employ of the government, is appointed to visit the bureau at least once a year and to report to the secretary: upon the efficiency of its scientific work and the condition of its equipment. One member retires each year. The appointment is;for five years. The members serve without compensation, except their I actual expenses incurred. The act of July 28, 1866, authorized the use of the French metric system of weights and measures in this country, and provided that no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall he deemed invalid or liable to objection, because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are I weights or measures of the metric system; R. S. § 3569. Annexed to § 3570 is a schedule which shall be recognized in the construction of contracts, and in all legal proceedings, as establishing in terms of the weights and measures now in use in the United States, the equivalent of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the metric system. See infra I Wbiokt; Prom. Mbtric Svstbm. The fundamental, invariable, and standard measure, by which all weights and measures are formed in this system,^ Is called the j mitre, a word derived from the Greek, which signimeasure. It is a lineal measure, and is equal fies ^ to 3' feet, 0 Inches, 11 44-lOOOth lines, Paris measure, or 8 feet, 8 inches, 370-1000th, English. This unit measures, are Infinite, As the standard is to be Invariable, something has been sought from which to make it, which Is not variable or subject to any change. The fundamental base of the mitre is the quarter of the terrestrial meridian, or the distance from the pole to the equator, which has been divided into ten millions of equal parts, one of which Is the length of the mitre. All the other measures are formed from the mitre, as follows:

— Capacity. The litre. This is the cubic didmitre, or the cube of one-tenth part of a mitre. This is divided by tenths, as the mitre. The measures which amount to more than a single litre are counted * by tens, hundreds, thousands, etc., of litres. By above statute the litre Is 0.908 quarts, dry measure, and 1.0567 quarts, liquor or wine measure. Weight. The gramme. This is the weight of a cubic centimitre of distilled water at the temperature of 4® above zero Centigrade. By above statute, the gram is 15.432 grains.

That by which extent or dimension is ascertained, either length, breadth, thickness, capacity or amount. Webster. The rule by which anything is adjusted or proportioned.

— Measure of damages. The rule, or rather the system of rules, governing the adjustment or apportionment of damages as a compensation for injuries in actions at law.

— Measure of value. In the ordinary sense of the word, "measure" would mean something by comparison with which we may ascertain what is the value of anything. When we consider, further, that value itself is relative, and that two things are necessary to constitute it, independently of the third thing, which is to measure it, we may define a "measure of value" to be something by comparing with which any two other things we may infer their value in relation to one another. 2 Mill, Pol. Econ. 101.

That by which extent or dimension is ascertained, either length, brealth, thickness, capacity, or amount, Webster. Therule by which anything is ade justed or proportioned.