In 1532 it was ordered by 24 Henry VIII that meat ‘shall be sold by weight called Haver-du-pois,’ and in 1543 Recorde (‘Ground of Artes’) says, ‘But commenly there is used an other weyght called haberdyepoyse in which 16 onces make a pounde.’
In 1545 the Custom-House notified that ‘thys lyinge and Habardy peyse is all one.’
Having cleared away, as I hope, the obscurity which so long hung over the commercial weight ignored by the statutes, it may be well to mention that ‘Averdepois’ is the best spelling of this word, and is so accepted by the ‘New English Dictionary.’ ‘Aver’ is an old-established English word for ‘goods,’ and the earlier form ‘Haberdepase’ shows the original pronunciation. The spelling of the last syllable in ‘Averdepois’ is a sufficient concession to an incorrect modern custom.
The term originally applied to heavy goods, such as came from beyond sea; if the word was sometimes spelt, as in 25 Edw. III, ‘bledz, avoirdepois, chars, pessons’ (corn, heavy goods, meat, fish), it does not follow that the oi diphthong was pronounced as in ‘boy.’ The word pessons, now written poissons, shows the sound-value of the diphthong. The sound now given to it in modern French is a corruption. Up till 1700, even in Paris, oi was pronounced é or wé. ‘Averdepez’ is the true pronunciation. However, the influence of ‘poise’ prevents any improvement on the word being written and pronounced as ‘Averdepois.’
Though measures of capacity had always been on an averdepois basis, the admission of averdepois weight to statute recognition only dates from the time of Elizabeth. In her reign light begins to appear in our system of weights and measures. In 1574 she ordered a jury to examine the standard weights (many of Edward III and succeeding kings), to report on them, and to construct standards ‘as well of troy weight as of the avoirdupois.’
The standards made by this jury were as unsatisfactory as their report. Little could be expected from persons who could, with Edward III’s standard weights before them, report that ‘the lb. weight of avoirdepoiz weight dothe consiste of fiftene ounc troie.’ This was in accordance with the old fiction that the averdepois pound must be a commercial offshoot of the royal pound, that it was 15 ounces Tower = 6750 grains, and afterwards in Tudor times 15 ounces Troy = 7200 grains, or even 16 ounces Troy = 7680 grains.
Elizabeth and her advisers were not deceived by this obsequious report, so, the standards made being found very erroneous, in 1582 a second and more intelligent jury of goldsmiths and merchants was appointed, and the result of their work was the production of 57 sets of standard Troy and averdepois weights, which were distributed to the Exchequer, to cities and towns. Some of these averdepois weights are still extant and do not now differ by more than one grain in each pound from Imperial standard.
The Proclamation for Weights of December 16, 1587, established averdepois weight, and ordered that ‘no person shall use any Troy weight but only for weighing of bread, gold, silver and electuaries and for no other thing.’
It seems probable that, in the two centuries before Elizabeth, the standard of the commercial pound had risen by about 8 grains. This may have occurred when the Troy pound superseded the Tower pound. In the adjustment, which I assume as probable, of the Troy and Averdepois pounds so as to obtain a ratio of 5760 to 7000, the latter standard, raising the ounce from 437 to 437-1/2 grains, and the pound by 8 grains, may have been adopted so as to avoid or diminish the cutting down of the new Troy pound.
Thus was established by Elizabeth the English standard of weight. Excellent standards of capacity and of length were also made; and she established our silver coinage on its present basis.