is taken to be the wine gallon) of wheat was sold at twelve pence, the farthing loaf of the best white bread should weigh six pounds sixteen shillings (~2.5 kg / 5.6 lb avdp if the pound is taken to be the troy pound). It then graduated the weight of bread according to the price of wheat, and for every six pence added to the quarter of wheat, the weight of the farthing loaf was reduced; until, when the wheat was at twenty shillings a quarter, it directed the weight of the loaf to be six shillings and three pence (~120 g / 4.1 oz avdp).. The assize of bread was in force until the beginning of the 19th century, and was only then abolished in London. Ale In a similar manner, the assize regulated the price of the gallon of ale, by the price of wheat, barley, and oats, stating that, Over time, this uniform scale of price created opportunities for arbitrage that made it extremely inconvenient and oppressive; and by the statute 23 Hen. VIII c. 4 in the 16th century, it was enacted that ale-brewers should charge for their ale such prices as might appear convenient and sufficient in the discretion of the justices of the peace within whose jurisdiction where the ale-brewers lived. The price of ale was regulated by provisions like those stated above, and the quality was ascertained by officers of great antiquity, called gustatores cervisiae, that is, "aletasters" or ale-conners, chosen annually in the court-leet of each manor, and were sworn "to examine and assay the beer and ale, and to take care that they were good and wholesome, and sold at proper prices according to the assize; and also to present all defaults of brewers to the next court-leet." See also Other English Weights and Measures Acts Baker's dozen - origin of the term Vantage loaf Worshipful Company of Bakers Notes Bibliography English laws Food law 1260s in law 1266 in England Alcohol law in the United Kingdom Standards organisations in the United Kingdom