Definition
Sures are weights and measures that do not conform to the standards established by law. The term identifies non-standard measuring instruments or units — those that deviate from the legally prescribed measures maintained by public authority. A weight or measure that is "sure" in the ordinary sense of being reliable to its user may nonetheless be a "sure" in the legal sense if it fails to match the official standard, making the term something of a technical designation for unlawful or non-conforming measurement instruments.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in older English legal sources and is rarely encountered in modern legal writing. Researchers encountering "sures" in historical documents — particularly in materials touching on trade regulation, market law, or crown prerogative — should recognize it as a term of condemnation: it marks instruments as legally defective, not merely inaccurate.
The historical context matters. The regulation of weights and measures in England traced to at least the laws of King Edgar (r. 959–975), predating the Norman Conquest, and the prerogative of fixing standards was treated as a function of royal authority. In Normandy, an equivalent authority vested in the duke. This means that in pre-Conquest and early post-Conquest sources, disputes about weights and measures — and references to non-conforming instruments — carry constitutional significance beyond simple commercial fraud. A "sure" was not just a bad scale; it was an affront to sovereign regulatory authority.
Researchers should be alert to the fact that Bouvier's entry on this term is truncated in some editions, cutting off mid-sentence during the discussion of regulatory authority. The full historical and comparative treatment may require consulting supplementary sources on the law of weights and measures rather than relying solely on the dictionary entry.
The term does not appear to have survived into modern American legal usage in any significant form. Statutes governing weights and measures use different vocabulary — "false weights," "non-conforming instruments," or simply statutory definitions of unlawful measuring devices. Do not expect to find "sures" in post-nineteenth-century statutory or case law research.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary defines sures as weights and measures that do not conform to those established by law. The entry situates the term within English legal history, noting the laws of King Edgar as an early source of standardization — specifically, the directive that one measure kept at Winchester should serve as the national standard. Bouvier connects this to the broader principle that the prerogative of fixing measurement standards vested in the crown in England and in the duke in Normandy.
The Bouvier entry is notably incomplete as preserved, breaking off during the discussion of regulatory authority. This limits what can be drawn from it about the full scope of the term's application or the consequences attached to using sures in trade. Researchers should treat the Bouvier definition as a starting point rather than a complete account. Historical English sources on market law, assize regulations, and crown prerogative over commerce will provide fuller context.
No other source dictionaries in the present compilation include an independent entry for this term, which itself signals that "sures" was a specialized or archaic designation even by the time of nineteenth-century legal dictionary compilation.
Jurisdictional Note
The term is rooted in English law and reflects the English constitutional tradition of crown prerogative over weights and measures. American law inherited the subject matter — federal and state regulation of weights and measures — but did not carry forward this particular vocabulary. Researchers working in American legal sources will not find operative use of "sures" as a legal term of art.