Under this option, moving companies can limit their legal liability to the loss or damage of items of “extraordinary value,” that is, items valued at more than $100 per pound (such as jewellery, china or furs). However, if you explicitly state these items on the shipping documents, your moving company will still be responsible for their safe delivery. Ask your moving company for a written explanation of this restriction before moving. Although not of the same linguistic origin, Chinese jīn (斤, also known as “catty”) has a modern definition of exactly 500 grams, divided into 10 liǎng (两). Traditionally weighing about 605 grams, jin has been used for over two thousand years and serves the same purpose as “pounds” for the usual measurement of weight. The United States and the Commonwealth of Nations countries have agreed on common definitions of the pound and the shipyard. Since 1 July 1959, the international pound avoirdupois (symbol lb) is defined as exactly 0.45359237 kg. [8] [9] A similar definition using lead bullets exists to determine the thickness of shotguns. In the United Kingdom, weights and measures have been set by a long series of Acts of Parliament to regulate the sale of goods. Materials traded on the market are quantified according to accepted units and standards to prevent fraud. The standards themselves are set by law to facilitate the resolution of disputes before the courts; Only the measures provided for by law are recognized by the courts. Quantification devices used by operators (weights, scales, volumetric containers, length measurements) are subject to official control and penalties are imposed if they are fraudulent.
Originally derived from Roman scales, the definition varied throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. The weights and measures of the Habsburg monarchy were reformed in 1761 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. [39] The unusually heavy 16-ounce Habsburg (civilian) pound was later defined as 560,012 grams. The Bavarian reforms of 1809 and 1811 adopted essentially the same standard book. In Prussia, a reform in 1816 defined a uniform civil pound in terms of Prussian foot and distilled water, resulting in a Prussian pound of 467,711 grams. Subscribe to America`s largest dictionary and get thousands of other definitions and an advanced search – ad-free! A number of different definitions of the pound have historically been used in Britain. These included the avoirdupois pound and the obsolete tower, the merchant pound and the London pound. [21] Pounds and fines are used only for the weight of certain precious metals, particularly in commerce; These are usually only given in ounces (e.g., “500 ounces”), and if the ounce type is not explicitly specified, the Troy system is assumed.
The fine pound is no longer commonly used or a legal unit for trade (it was abolished in the United Kingdom on January 6, 1879 by the Weights and Measures Act 1878), but the troy ounce, 1⁄12 of a fine pound, is still used for measurements of gemstones such as opals and precious metals such as silver. Platinum and especially gold. [27] The Weights and Measures Act of 1878 marked a fundamental overhaul of the British system of weights and measures, and the definition of the pound contained therein remained in force until the 1960s. The pound has been defined as follows (Article 4): “The. Platinum weight. filed with the Standards Division of the Chamber of Commerce. remains the imperial standard of. Weight.
and the said platinum weight will continue to be the imperial standard for determining the imperial standard pound for the United Kingdom. Paragraph 13 provides that the weight in vacuum of this standard shall be referred to as Reichs Standard Book and that all other weights specified in law and permitted for trade shall be determined solely on this basis. The bill`s original schedule included more details about the standard pound: it`s a platinum cylinder nearly 1.35 inches (34 mm) high and 1.15 inches (29 mm) in diameter, and the edges are neatly rounded. It has a groove about 0.34 inches (8.6 mm) from the top so the cylinder can be lifted with an ivory fork. It was built after the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire in 1834 and bears the P.S. 1844 stamp, 1 lb (P.S. stands for “Parliamentary Standard”). The pound was redefined relative to the kilogram in the UK in 1963. In 1963, a new law on weights and measures reversed this ratio and the pound was defined for the first time as a mass of 0.45359237 kg to meet the 1959 definition of the international pound. The 1878 Act stipulated that contracts formulated in metric units would be considered by the courts to be concluded in accordance with the imperial units defined in the Act, and a table of metric equivalents was provided so that imperial equivalents could be legally calculated. This defined metric units in British law in the form of imperial units. The equivalence for the pound was given as 1 lb = 453.59265 g or 0.45359 kg, which corresponded to the kilogram of approximately 2.2046213 lb.
In 1883, it was determined jointly by the Standards Division of the Board of Trade and Bureau International that 0.4535924277 kg was a better approximation, and this figure, rounded to 0.45359243 kg, was given legal status by a Council Regulation in May 1898. [24] The London pound is that of the Hanseatic League as it is used in its various negotiating venues. The London pound is based on 16 ounces, with each ounce divided into ounces of turn. It never became a legal standard in England; the use of this pound increased and decreased with the influence of the Hanseatic League itself. The pound or pound mass is a unit of mass used in imperial, American and other measurement systems. Different definitions were used; The most common today is the international pound avoirdupois, which is legally defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilograms and is divided into 16 ounces avoirdupois. [1] The international standard symbol for the pound avoirdupois is lb; [2] An alternative symbol is lbm[3] (for most book definitions), # (mostly in the US),[4] and ℔[5] or “̶[6] (specifically for pharmacists` book).