Origin The origin of the yard measure is uncertain. Both the
Romans and the
Welsh used multiples of a shorter
foot, but
Roman feet was a "
step" () and 3
Welsh feet was a "
pace" (). The
Proto-Germanic "
cubit" or arm's-length has been
reconstructed as *
alinô, which developed into the
Old English ,
Middle English , and modern
ell of . This has led some to derive the yard of three
English feet from pacing; others from the ell or cubit; and still others from
Henry I's arm standard. Based on the
etymology of the other "yard", some suggest it originally derived from the girth of a person's waist, while others believe it originated as a
cubic measure. One official British report writes:
From ell to yard The earliest record of a prototype measure is the statute
II Edgar Cap. 8 (AD 959 963), which survives in several variant manuscripts. In it,
Edgar the Peaceful directed the
Witenagemot at
Andover that "the measure held at
Winchester" should be observed throughout his realm. (Some manuscripts read "at
London and at Winchester".) The statutes of
William I similarly refer to and uphold the standard measures of his predecessors without naming them.
William of Malmesbury's
Deeds of the Kings of England records that during the reign of
Henry I (1100–1135), "the measure of his arm was applied to correct the false
ell of the traders and enjoined on all throughout England." The
folktale that the length was bounded by the king's nose was added some centuries later.
Charles Moore Watson dismisses William's account as "childish", but William was among the most conscientious and trustworthy medieval historians. The
French "
king's foot" was supposed to have derived from
Charlemagne, and the English kings subsequently repeatedly intervened to impose shorter units with the aim of increasing tax revenue. The earliest surviving definition of this shorter unit appears in the
Act on the Composition of Yards and Perches, one of the
statutes of uncertain date tentatively dated to the reign of
Edward I or
II . Its wording varies in surviving accounts. One reads: It is ordained that 3
grains of barley dry and round do make an
inch, 12 inches make 1
foot, 3 feet make 1 yard, 5 yards and a half make a
perch, and 40 perches in length and 4 in breadth make an
acre. The
Liber Horn compilation (1311) includes that statute with slightly different wording and adds: And be it remembered that the
iron yard of our Lord the King containeth 3
feet and no more, and a foot ought to contain 12
inches by the right measure of this yard measured, to wit, the 36th part of this yard rightly measured maketh 1 inch neither more nor less and 5 yards and a half make a
perch that is 16 feet and a half measured by the aforesaid yard of our Lord the King. In some early books, this act was appended to another statute of uncertain date titled the
Statute for the Measuring of Land. The act was not repealed until the
Weights and Measures Act 1824.
Yard and inch In a law of 1439 (
18 Hen. 6. c. 16) the sale of cloth by the "yard and handful" was abolished, and the "yard and inch" instituted (see
ell). There shall be but one Measure of Cloth through the Realm by the
Yard and the Inch, and not by the
Yard and Handful, according to the London Measure. According to Connor, cloth merchants had previously sold cloth by the yard and handful to evade high taxes on cloth (the extra handful being essentially a black-market transaction). Enforcement efforts resulted in cloth merchants switching over to the yard and inch, at which point the government gave up and made the yard and inch official. In 1552, the yard and inch for cloth measurement was again sanctioned in law (
5 & 6 Edw. 6. c. 6.
An Act for the true making of Woolen Cloth.) The yard and inch for cloth measurement was also sanctioned again in legislation of 1557–1558 (
4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 5.
An act touching the making of woolen clothes. par. IX.) IX. Item, That every ordinary
kersie mentioned in the said act shall contain in length in the water betwixt xvi. and xvii. yards,
yard and inch; and being well scoured thicked, milled, dressed and fully dried, shall weigh nineteen pounds the piece at the least:... As recently as 1593, the same principle is found mentioned once again (
35 Eliz. 1. c. 10
An act for the reformation of sundry abuses in clothes, called Devonshire kerjies or dozens, according to a proclamation of the thirty-fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lady the Queen that now is. par. III.) (2) and each and every of the same Devonshire kersies or dozens, so being raw, and as it cometh forth off the weaver's loom (without racking, stretching, straining or other device to encrease the length thereof) shall contain in length between fifteen and sixteen yards by the measure of
yard and inch by the rule,...
Physical standards One of the oldest yard-rods in existence is the clothyard of the
Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors. It consists of a hexagonal iron rod in diameter and short of a yard, encased within a silver rod bearing the hallmark 1445. In the early 15th century, the Merchant Taylors Company was authorized to "make search" at the opening of the annual
St. Bartholomew's Day Cloth Fair. In the mid-18th century, Graham compared the standard yard of the Royal Society to other existing standards. These were a "long-disused" standard made in 1490 during the reign of
Henry VII, and a brass yard and a brass
ell from 1588 in the time of
Queen Elizabeth and still in use at the time, held at the
Exchequer; a brass yard and a brass ell at the
Guildhall; and a brass yard presented to the
Clock-Makers' Company by the Exchequer in 1671.
19th-century Britain Following
Royal Society investigations by
John Playfair,
William Hyde Wollaston and John Warner in 1814 a committee of parliament proposed defining the standard yard based upon the length of a
seconds pendulum. This idea was examined but not approved. The
Weights and Measures Act 1824 (
5 Geo. 4. c. 74)
An Act for ascertaining and establishing Uniformity of Weights and Measures stipulates that: In 1834, the primary Imperial yard standard was partially destroyed in a fire known as the
Burning of Parliament. Ref., and Ref. The other 35 yard standards were distributed to the cities of London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, as well as the United States and other countries (although only the first five had official status). The imperial standard received by the United States is known as "Bronze Yard No. 11" The
Weights and Measures Act 1878 (
41 & 42 Vict. c. 49) confirmed the status of the existing yard standard, mandated regular intercomparisons between the several yard standards, and authorized the construction of one additional Parliamentary Copy (made in 1879 and known as Parliamentary Copy VI).
Definition of the yard in terms of the meter Subsequent measurements revealed that the yard standard and its copies were shrinking at the rate of one part per million every twenty years due to the gradual release of strain incurred during the fabrication process. (
60 & 61 Vict. c. 46) in conjunction with Order in Council 411 (1898) made this relationship official. After 1898, the
de facto legal definition of the yard came to be accepted as of a meter. The yard (known as the "international yard" in the United States) was legally defined to be exactly 0.9144
meter in 1959 under an agreement in 1959 between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the UK, the provisions of the treaty were ratified by the
Weights and Measures Act 1963. The Imperial Standard Yard of 1855 was renamed the United Kingdom Primary Standard Yard and retained its official status as the national prototype yard. ==Current use==