Definition
A heaped measure is a method of measuring dry commodities by volume in which the goods are not leveled flush with the rim of the measuring vessel but are instead mounded above the top, typically in the form of a cone. The heaped measure thus yields a larger quantity than a struck measure (also called a stricken measure), which is leveled flat across the brim.
The distinction mattered practically and legally wherever dry goods — grain, coal, salt, produce, and similar bulk commodities — were sold by measure rather than by weight. A buyer and seller had to agree, or the governing law had to specify, whether a sale "by the bushel" or similar unit meant a heaped or a struck measure, because the two could differ substantially in actual quantity delivered.
---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Not independently defined; "heaped" in everyday English simply means piled up or accumulated in a heap.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's defines "heaped" as "having a heap; as, a heaped measure" — an acknowledgment that the term carried a recognized commercial and legal sense distinct from mere casual piling.
The gap is modest but real. Ordinary usage treats "heaped" as informal and approximate. The legal and commercial meaning was precise: a formally defined standard of measurement with a required geometry (a cone, base defined by the outer rim of the vessel, apex as high as the commodity's natural angle of repose or as prescribed by statute), not merely a loosely piled mound.
---
Common Confusion
HEAPED MEASURE vs. STRUCK MEASURE (STRICKEN MEASURE): These are the two opposing poles of dry measure. A struck or stricken measure is leveled off flat with the top of the vessel. Confusion between the two in historical commercial contracts or statutes can produce significant discrepancies when calculating quantities. Researchers encountering disputed-quantity litigation in older commercial or agricultural records must identify which standard the governing law or contract specified.
HEAPED MEASURE vs. WEIGHT-BASED SALE: As commodity markets matured, sales increasingly shifted from volumetric measure to sale by weight, which is not subject to the heaped/struck ambiguity. Historical records may use bushel or peck language that a modern reader assumes refers to a fixed weight equivalent, when the original legal context was purely volumetric and the heaped/struck distinction was controlling.
---
Why It Matters in Research
HEAPED MEASURE is primarily a term of historical commercial and agricultural law. Researchers will encounter it in:
1. Pre-twentieth-century commercial disputes involving grain, coal, lime, salt, oysters, or other bulk dry commodities sold by the bushel, peck, half-bushel, or similar unit. Whether the applicable measure was heaped or struck could determine whether a seller had delivered full contractual quantity.
2. State weights-and-measures statutes and regulations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. New York's Revised Statutes (referenced in Burrill) specified the cone geometry precisely. Other states enacted similar provisions, but the details varied — some commodities were legally required to be sold by struck measure, others by heaped measure, and the lists differed by state. Researchers should not assume that a finding about New York's rule generalizes to other jurisdictions without checking the relevant state's weights-and-measures code.
3. Municipal market regulations and inspection records, where enforcement of the heaping requirement (or prohibition) was a local function. These records can be relevant in historical property, commercial, or fraud research.
4. Agricultural tenancy and rent disputes, particularly where rent was calculated in kind (a share of the harvest measured by the bushel), making the heaped/struck distinction a live legal question.
The term essentially disappears from active legal significance as commodity sales migrated to weight-based standards during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Modern uniform weights-and-measures law in the United States, following the National Institute of Standards and Technology handbook framework, does not use heaped measure as a live standard for most regulated commodities. Encountering the term in a modern context is a signal that a historical contract, statute, or custom is being interpreted.
---
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the core definition: a measure in which commodities are heaped above the top of the measuring vessel. Burrill specifically references New York's Revised Statutes as codifying the geometry — the heap must form a cone whose base extends to the outer edge of the measuring vessel, and whose apex rises as high as the commodity will naturally stand. This is a rare instance of statutory precision about what "heaped" actually required, and Burrill's entry captures it usefully.
What Burrill does not address: the commercial history of which commodities customarily required heaped versus struck measure across different trades and regions, the enforcement mechanisms, or the transition away from volumetric measure. Researchers needing that context will need to consult agricultural and commercial history sources beyond the legal dictionaries.
No significant divergence exists among the historical legal dictionaries on the core meaning; the term was narrow and technical enough that sources largely agree on what it denotes. The principal limitation is simply that Burrill's entry is incomplete as transcribed — the New York statutory language appears to be cut off — but the operative definition is clear.
---
Jurisdictional Note
State weights-and-measures statutes governed heaped measure in the United States, and the specific commodities designated for heaped versus struck measure varied by jurisdiction. New York's Revised Statutes provided a precise statutory definition of the cone geometry. Researchers working across state lines in historical commercial records should verify the applicable state's weights-and-measures provisions rather than relying on any single state's rule as a general standard.
---