ch the powers of the municipalities to
regulate the quality and sale of bread. It left them the right conferred
in 1791, to enforce the _taxe du pain_, the object of which was to
prevent bakers from increasing the price of bread beyond a point
justified by the price of the raw materials; but the right was exercised
on their own responsibility, subject to appeal to higher authorities,
and by a circular issued in 1863 they were invited to abolish this _taxe
officielle_. In places where it exists it is fixed every week or
fortnight, according to the average price of grain in the local markets.

In England an act of parliament was passed in 1266 for regulating the
price of bread by a public assize, and that system continued in
operation till 1822 in the case of the city of London, and till 1836 for
the rest of the country. The price of bread was determined by adding a
certain sum to the price of every quarter of flour, to cover the baker's
expenses and profit; and for the sum so arrived at tradesmen were
required to bake and sell eighty quartern loaves or a like proportion of
other sizes, which it was reckoned each quarter of flour ought to yield.
The acts now regulating the manufacture and sale of bread in Great
Britain are one of 1822 (Sale of Bread in the City of London and within
10 m. of the Royal Exchange), and the Bread Act of 1836, as to sale of
bread beyond 10 m. of the Royal Exchange. The acts require that bread
shall be sold by weight, and in no other manner, under a penalty not
exceeding forty shillings. This does not, however, mean that a seller is
bound to sell at any particular weight; the words quartern and
half-quartern, though commonly used and taken to indicate a 4-lb. and
2-lb. loaf respectively, have no legal sanction. That is to say, a baker
is not bound to sell a loaf weighing either 4 lb. or 2; all he has to
do, when a customer asks for a loaf, is to put one on the scale, weigh
it, and declare the weight. When bread is sold over the counter it is
usual for the vendor to cut off and tender a piece of bread to make up
any deficiency in the loaf. This is known as the "overweight." There is
little doubt the somewhat misty wording of the bread acts lends itself
to a good deal of fraudulent dealing. For instance, when bread is sold
over the counter, two loaves may be 5 or 6 oz. short, while the piece of
makeweight may not reach an ounce. The customer sees the bread put on
the scale, but in ninety-nine cases