A weigh house or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods, and the like, are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights. As public control of the weight of goods was very important, they were run by local authorities who would also use them for the levying of taxes on goods transported through or sold within the city. Therefore, weigh houses would often be near a market square or town centre.
Between 1550 and about 1690 people accused of witchcraft were at times brought to a weigh house in order to be subjected to a "witch test". If a person was found to be lighter than a set weight, he or she was deemed guilty. This is similar to the use of a ducking stool.
Weigh houses were especially common in the Netherlands, Germany, where they are called waag and waage respectively (both meaning "scale") and Poland (smatruz, in Krakow and Poznan). Outside the Netherlands and Germany the public weighing usually didn't take place in a special building, but in a town hall, guild hall, courthouse, or the like.
Read more about Weigh House: Weigh Houses in Belgium, Weigh Houses in Germany
Famous quotes containing the words weigh and/or house:
“I do not allow myself to be moved by anything except the law. If there has been a mistake in the law, or if I think there has been perjury or injustice, I will weigh the petition most carefully, but I do not permit myself to be moved by more harrowing details, and I try to treat each case as if I was reviewing it or hearing it for the first time from the bench.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“When a house is tottering to its fall,
The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part,
One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads,
And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)