[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_veuEhhb1658wti0_ZAig66JOyixENU-N9zhjLQSLfOQ.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000042","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/1\/essays\/43\/weights-and-measures\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeights and Measures\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n      Article I, Section 8, Clause 5\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n      \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Congress shall have Power To...fix the Standard of Weights and Measures....\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n    \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Articles of Confederation was the immediate source that gave the central government \u201cthe sole and exclusive right and power of\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009fixing the Standard of Weights and Measures throughout the United States.\u201d Article IX, Section\u0026nbsp;4. More remotely, the power to establish national standards of weights and measures resided in the English Crown or Parliament from the late eleventh century, although it appears that official standards were frequently ignored throughout England. The phrase itself dates from the late fourteenth century.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBy the time of the Constitutional Convention, it appears that the Weights and Measures Clause was not an attempt to remedy a situation in which various standards obtained in various parts of the country. A customary uniformity already existed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERather, the purpose in granting this power was to facilitate domestic and international commerce by permitting the federal government to adopt and enforce national measurement standards based upon the prevailing consensus.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe clause excited no controversy among the Framers or in the ratifying conventions. During their respective tenures as Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, as well as a House committee, produced extensive studies calling for congressional adoption of uniform standards. The reports by the House and Adams rejected adopting the metric system of France and proposed no federal enforcement mechanism, leaving the application of the standards to the executives of the several states. Congress itself did not adopt any systems of weights or measures, although the Treasury Department established standards for the pound, yard, gallon, and bushel for customs purposes and, beginning in the 1830s, sent complete sets of weights and measures to each state.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EA question then arises as to what use the clause had in light of Congress\u2019s power to regulate commerce among the states. The answer would seem to be that the clause would have allowed Congress to set and enforce the standards for weights and measures even for intrastate trade. In fact, however, Congress chose the Commerce Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause whenever it wanted to regulate the standards of goods permitted in intrastate as well as interstate trade.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the face of official congressional inaction, many states defined standard measures for trade purposes. No Supreme Court case has explicitly held that the states are free to establish such standards in the absence of congressional action, although Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes intimated as much in Massachusetts State Grange v. Benton (1926). Justice Robert Cooper Grier, on circuit, was perhaps more dubious of the states\u2019 power. The Miantinomi (1855).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ECongress has acquiesced in (though never authorized) the use of the traditional English system of weights and measures in nonbusiness activities. In 1866, Congress authorized, but did not mandate, the use of the metric system and, since 1975, the metric system has been the \u201cpreferred system\u201d for trade and commerce. The Office of Weights and Measures within the Commerce Department\u2019s National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes standards for English and metric weights and measures.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/Eric_Chiappinelli.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.creighton.edu\/law\/faculty\/chiappinelli\/index.php\u0022\u003EEric Chiappinelli\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/h4\u003E\n                  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n         Frank McDonald Endowed Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000042-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000042-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000042-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n      \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000042-taba\u0022\u003E\n          \n      \u003Cdiv\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavid P. Currie, \u003Ci\u003EWeights \u0026amp; Measures\u003C\/i\u003E, 2 Green Bag 2d 261 (1999)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003ELOUIS A. FISCHER, HISTORY OF THE STANDARD WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF THE UNITED STATES (1925)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELewis V. Judson, Weights and Measures Standards of the United States (1976)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n          \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000042-tabb\u0022\u003E\n          \n      \u003Cdiv\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Miantinoni, 17 F. Cas. 254 (C.C.W.D. Pa. 1855) (No. 9521)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMassachusetts State Grange v. Benton, 272 U.S. 525 (1926)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n          \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000042-tabc\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000034\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EUniformity Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000036\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ECommerce with Foreign Nations\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000037\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ECommerce Among the States\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000045\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPatent and Copyright Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000058\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ENecessary and Proper Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000162\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EReserved Powers of the States\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]