“Thus, under king Richard I, in his parliament holden at Westminster, A.D. 1197, it was ordained that there shall be only one weight and one measure throughout the kingdom, and that the custody of the assise or standard of weights and measures shall be committed to certain persons in every city and borough …. In king John’s time this ordinance of king Richard was frequently dispensed with for money which occasioned a provision to be made for enforcing it …. These original standards were called pondus regis, and mensura domini regis; 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.” 1 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 265–66 (1765).
mensura domini regis
mensura domini regis (men-s[y]oor-[schwa] dom-[schwa]-nIree-jis). [Law Latin “the measure of our lord the king”] Hist. The standard weights and measures established under Richard I, in his Parliament at Westminster in 1197.
