Editing Yard (section)

===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<ref name="statutes at large-1439">{{cite book|title=Statutes at Large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tKZFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA594|year=1763|page=594}}</ref> (see [[ell]]).

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

According to Connor,{{sfnp|Connor|1987}} 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.'')<ref>{{cite book|editor=Owen Ruffhead|title=The statutes at large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2KZFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA442|volume=2|year=1763|page=442}}</ref>

{{quote|XIV. And that all and every [[broadcloth#Etymology|Broad Cloth]] and Clothes called [[Taunton#History|Taunton Clothes]], [[Bridgwater]]s, and other Clothes which shall be made after the said Feast in Taunton, Bridgwater or in other Places of like Sort, shall contain at the Water in Length betwixt twelve and thirteen Yards, '''Yard and Inch''' of the Rule, and in Breadth seven Quarters of a Yard: (2) And every [[narrow Cloth]] made after the said Feast in the said Towns or elsewhere of like Sorts, shall contain in the Water in Length betwixt three and twenty and five and twenty Yards, '''Yard and Inch''' as is aforesaid, and in Breadth one Yard of like Measure; (3) and every such Cloth, both Broad and Narrow being well [[scouring (textiles)|scowred]], thicked, [[fulling|milled]] and fully dried, shall weigh xxxiv. li. the Piece at the least.{{pb}}XV. And that all Clothes named Check-[[Kersey (cloth)|Kersie]] and [[narrow cloth|Straits]], which shall be made after the said Feast shall contain being wet between seventeen and eighteen '''Yards, with the Inches''' as is aforesaid, and in Breadth one Yard at the least at the Water; and being well scowred, thicked, milled and fully dried, shall weigh xxiv. li. the Piece at the least.}}

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.)<ref>{{cite book|author1=Great Britain|last2=Pickering|first2=Danby|author-link2=Danby Pickering|editor=Danby Pickering|title=The statutes at large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvouAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA96|volume=6|year=1763|publisher=Printed by J. Bentham|page=96}}</ref>

<blockquote>IX. Item, That every ordinary [[Kersey (cloth)|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:...</blockquote>

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 {{sic}} 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.)<ref>{{cite book|author1=Great Britain|last2=Pickering|first2=Danby|author-link2=Danby Pickering|title=The statutes at large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvouAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA444|volume=6|year=1763|publisher=Printed by J. Bentham|page=444}}</ref>

<blockquote>(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,...</blockquote>