Lord Coke’s Account of Coin and Coining.

COIN in 6 E. 1. was but 20d. the ounce, but now it is above thrice so much: Stat. de Glocestr. c. 8.

Co. 2. Instit. f. 311.

The pound of Gold and Silver containeth 12 ounces: 12 graines of fine Gold make a Carrat. 24 Carrats of fine Gold make an ounce, 12 ounces make a Pound of fine Gold of the touch of Paris: but by the Statute of 18 Eliz. cap. 15. 22 Carrats fine make an ounce.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

Polidore Virgil f. 304. &c. saith, That Sterling Money comes ab effigie Sturni (Anglice Starling) aviculæ in altera parte nummi impressa, &c.Vid. 37 E. 3 cap. 7. vel quod nummum haberet notum stellæ, quod Angli Star vocant: Of this Opinion is Linwood the Civilian. tit. De Testamentis. cap. Item. quia verbo centum solid.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

Mr. Skene takes it to come from Scotland, from a place called Striveling alias Sterling.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

But the Esterling or Sterling penny took its name from the workmen, who were Esterlings, that both coined it, and gave it the Allay.Davies Rep. f. 23. 24. Hoveden parte poster. Annalium, fol. 377 b. vet. Mag. Charta 167. The Esterling penny was first coined in Hen. the II. time: and 20d. of Silver made the ounce. Dyer 7 Eliz. f. 82, 83. and 12 ounces made a pound of fine Silver, and 11 ounces fine Silver, and an ounce of Allay maketh a pound weight of sterling Silver, intended within the Act.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

By 18 Eliz. cap. 15. plate of Silver ought to be of the fineness of xi ounces 2d. weight.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

Allay is the mixture of Baser Mettal than Silver or Gold, called in our Books, False Mettal, 9 H. 5 Stat. 2 cap. 4. & 6. 3 H. 7. 10. a. b.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

No more Allay must be put into Money than is limited in the Indentures between the King and the Moniers, upon Pain of Treason. Britton. f. 10 b. Fleta lib. i. cap. 22.

Co. 2. Instit. 575.

a

SPEECH

made by

Sir Robert Cotton, Kt. and Baront.

before the

LORDS

Of HIS MAJESTY’S most Honourable

PRIVY COUNCIL,

At the Council-Table:

Being thither called to deliver his Opinion.

Touching the

Alteration of Coin.

Sept. 2. Annoque Regni Regis CAROLI I. (1626.)

LONDON:

Printed in the Year 1651.

asterisks There is some uncertainty in regard to the author of this remarkable Speech and the time when it was delivered. It was first published in 1641, as the Speech of Sir Thomas Roe, at the Council Table in 1640; and again in 1651 in Cottoni Posthuma, as the Speech of Sir Robert Cotton, before the Privy Council in 1626. In the former case a proposal was made to relieve the urgent necessities of the King by adding enormously to the alloy in the Silver Coins to be issued to the army. There is, however, nothing in the Speech that would lead any one to suppose that it had been made at so critical a period, or that it was intended to oppose so violent a measure. And hence, the probability seems to be, that it was really made in 1626, by Sir Robert Cotton in opposition to a project then entertained for raising the nominal value of the pound weight of Silver from 62s. to 70s. 6d. The arguments against the project are stated in the Speech with great brevity and clearness; and are said to have occasioned its abandonment.—(See Ruding on the Coinage, 3rd edition, i., pp. 382, 392, &c.).