WEIGHT in commerce, denotes a body of a known weight appointed to be put in the balance against other bodies whose weight is required.
The security of commerce depending, in good measure, on the justness of weights, which are usually of lead, iron, or brass, most nations have taken care to prevent the falsification thereof, by stamping or marking them by proper officers, after being adjusted by some original standard. Thus, in England, the standard of weights is kept in the exchequer by a particular officer, called the clerk of the market.
Weights may be distinguished into ancient and modern, foreign and domestic.