s
shall be committed to certain persons in every city and borough[s];
from whence the antient office of the king's aulnager seems to have
been derived, whose duty it was, for a certain fee, to measure all
cloths made for sale, till the office was abolished by the statute 11
& 12 W. III. c. 20. In king John's time this ordinance of king Richard
was frequently dispensed with for money[t]; which occasioned a
provision to be made for inforcing it, in the great charters of king
John and his son[u]. These original standards were called _pondus
regis_[w], and _mensura domini regis_[x]; and are directed by a
variety of subsequent statutes to be kept in the exchequer, and all
weights and measures to be made conformable thereto[y]. But, as sir
Edward Coke observes[z], though this hath so often by authority of
parliament been enacted, yet it could never be effected; so forcible
is custom with the multitude, when it hath gotten an head.

[Footnote p: _Gr. Coustum._ _c._ 16.]

[Footnote q: _cap._ 8.]

[Footnote r: William of Malmsb. _in vita Hen. I._ Spelm. _Hen. I. ap._
Wilkins. 299.]

[Footnote s: Hoved. Matth. Paris.]

[Footnote t: Hoved. _A.D._ 1201.]

[Footnote u: 9 Hen. III. c. 25.]

[Footnote w: _Plac. 35 Edw. I. apud_ Cowel's Interpr. _tit. pondus
regis._]

[Footnote x: _Flet._ 2. 12.]

[Footnote y: 14 Edw. III. st. 1. c. 12. 25 Edw. III. st. 5. c. 10. 16
Ric. II. c. 3. 8 Hen. VI. c. 5. 11 Hen. VI. c. 8. 11 Hen. VII. c. 4.
22 Car. II. c. 8.]

[Footnote z: 2 Inst. 41.]

THIRDLY, as money is the medium of commerce, it is the king's
prerogative, as the arbiter of domestic commerce, to give it authority
or make it current. Money is an universal medium, or common standard,
by comparison with which the value of all merchandize may be
ascertained: or it is a sign, which represents the respective values
of all commodities. Metals are well calculated for this sign, because
they are durable and are capable of many subdivisions: and a precious
metal is still better calculated for this purpose, because it is the
most portable. A metal is also the most proper for a common measure,
because it can easily be reduced to the same standard in all nations:
and every particular nation fixes on it it's own impression, that the
weight and standard (wherein consists the intrinsic value) may both
be known by inspection only.

AS the quantity of precious metals increases, that is, the more of
them there is extracted from the mine, t