Coinage Act 1816
Long title | An Act to provide for a New Silver Coinage, and to regulate the Currency of the Gold and Silver Coin of this Realm. |
---|---|
Citation | 56 Geo. III c.68 |
Territorial extent | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 22 June 1816 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Coinage Act 1816 (56 Geo. III c.68), also known as Liverpool's Act,[1] defined the value of the pound sterling relative to gold. One troy pound of standard (22-carat) gold was defined as equivalent to £46 14s 6d.,[2] i.e. 44½ guineas, the guinea having been fixed in December 1717 at £1 1s exactly. According to its preamble, the purposes of the Act were to:
- prohibit the use of silver coins (which would now be of reduced weight, 66 shillings rather than 62 shillings per troy pound), for transactions larger than 40s
- establish a single gold standard for transactions of all sizes.[3]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Sargent, Thomas J. (2002). The Big Problem of Small Change. Princeton University Press. p. 303.
- ^ Lisle, George (1906). "British Currency: Gold". Accounting in Theory and Practice. William Green & Sons. p. 277.
- ^ Scott, William Amasa (1903). "XV.2: Currency Reform in England and the Act of 1816". Money and Banking. Henry Holt and Company.
External links[]
Categories:
- United Kingdom statute stubs
- HM Treasury
- United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1816
- Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament
- History of British coinage
- Gold legislation
- 1816 in economics
- Gold standard
- Currencies of the United Kingdom
- Gold in the United Kingdom
- Currency law in the United Kingdom