All Topics  
Trial of the Pyx

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Trial of the Pyx
 
 
  Topics Trial of the Pyx Topic Home

The Trial of the Pyx is the procedure in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 for ensuring that newly-minted
Mint (coin)

A mint is an industrial facility which manufacturing coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is normally related in a fashion that more closely ties to the political situation of an era....
 coins
British coinage

The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom is denominated in pound sterling , and, since the introduction of the two pound coin in 1998, ranges in value from one penny to two pounds....
 conform to required standards. Trials have been held from the twelfth century to the present day, normally once per calendar year; the form of the ceremony has been essentially the same since 1282 AD. They are trials
Trial (law)

In law, a trial is an event in which parties come together to a dispute present information in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute....
 in the full judicial sense, presided over by a judge
Judge

A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law,which is operated by the local, state, and/or federal government....
 with an expert jury
Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render a rationalism, impartiality verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence or judgment....
 of assayer
Assayer

An assayer is a person who tests ores and minerals and analyzes them to determine their composition and value. They may use spectrograph, chemical solutions, and chemical or laboratory equipment, such as furnaces, Beaker s, graduated cylinder, pipettes, and crucibles....
s. Trials are now held at the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths is one of the Livery Company of the City of London. The Company, which has origins in the twelfth century, received a Royal Charter in 1327....
; formerly, they took place at the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Trial of the Pyx'
Start a new discussion about 'Trial of the Pyx'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Trial of the Pyx is the procedure in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 for ensuring that newly-minted
Mint (coin)

A mint is an industrial facility which manufacturing coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is normally related in a fashion that more closely ties to the political situation of an era....
 coins
British coinage

The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom is denominated in pound sterling , and, since the introduction of the two pound coin in 1998, ranges in value from one penny to two pounds....
 conform to required standards. Trials have been held from the twelfth century to the present day, normally once per calendar year; the form of the ceremony has been essentially the same since 1282 AD. They are trials
Trial (law)

In law, a trial is an event in which parties come together to a dispute present information in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute....
 in the full judicial sense, presided over by a judge
Judge

A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law,which is operated by the local, state, and/or federal government....
 with an expert jury
Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render a rationalism, impartiality verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence or judgment....
 of assayer
Assayer

An assayer is a person who tests ores and minerals and analyzes them to determine their composition and value. They may use spectrograph, chemical solutions, and chemical or laboratory equipment, such as furnaces, Beaker s, graduated cylinder, pipettes, and crucibles....
s. Trials are now held at the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths is one of the Livery Company of the City of London. The Company, which has origins in the twelfth century, received a Royal Charter in 1327....
; formerly, they took place at the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
. Given modern production methods, it is unlikely that coins would not conform, but this has been a problem in the past—it was tempting for the Master of the Mint
Master of the Mint

Master of the Mint was an important office in the governments of Kingdom of Scotland and Kingdom of England, and latterly Great Britain between the 16th and 19th centuries....
 to steal precious metals.

The term "Pyx" refers to the boxwood
Boxwood

Boxwood may refer to:* Boxwood , a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxace?* Boxwood Public School, a school located in Markham, Ontario...
 chest (in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, p????, pyxis) in which coins were placed for presentation to the jury. There is also a Pyx Chapel (or Pyx Chamber) in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic architecture Church , in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster....
, which was once used for secure storage of the Pyx and related articles.

The judge having charge of the trial is the Queen's Remembrancer, the Senior Master
Judiciary of England and Wales

There are various levels of judiciary in England and Wales ? different types of courts have different styles of judges. They also form a strict hierarchy of importance, in line with the order of the courts in which they sit, so that judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales are generally given more weight than district judges sitting...
 of the Queen's Bench. It is his or her responsibility to ensure that the trial is held in accordance with law, and to deliver the final verdict to Her Majesty's Treasury. Where and when a trial is to take place is at the Treasury's discretion, though there must be a trial in any year during which the Royal Mint
Royal Mint

The Royal Mint of the United Kingdom is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint , Coins of the pound sterling in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but has functioned since 1975 as a Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company....
 issues coins.

Coins to be tested are drawn from the regular production of the Royal Mint. The Deputy Master of the Mint must, throughout the year, randomly select several thousand sample coins and place them aside for the Trial. These must be in a certain fixed proportion to the number of coins produced. For example, for every 5000 bimetallic coins issued, one must be set aside, but for silver Maundy money
Maundy money

Maundy money, legally called "the Queen's Maundy money" is a welcoming United Kingdom coinage given to deserving Poverty people in a religious ceremony performed, in many periods with the participation of the monarch, on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter....
 the proportion is one in 150.

The jury is composed of at least six assayers from the Company of Goldsmiths. They have two months to test the provided coins, and decide whether they have been properly minted. Criteria are given for diameter, chemical composition and weight for each class of coinage.

Statutory basis for the Trial of the Pyx is given by the Coinage Act 1971, the latest in a long series of similarly-named Acts of Parliament
Act of Parliament

An act of Parliament is a statute wikt:enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. It is broadly equivalent to an act of Congress in the United States....
. Specific procedures are established by Order-in-Council
Order-in-Council

An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, typically those in the Commonwealth of Nations. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the Queen of the United Kingdom by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom ; in Canada in the name of the Governor General of Canada by the Queen's Privy Council...
, the most recent being the , which was amended by . It is not required for a new Order to be issued for each Trial: this only happens when the rules change.

Popular Culture


A Trial of the Pyx is called for in Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson

Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk....
's fiction novel The System of the World
The System of the World (novel)

The System of the World, a novel by Neal Stephenson, is the third and final volume in The Baroque Cycle.The title allusion to the third volume of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which bears the same name....
. When it is revealed that Jack Shaftoe
Jack Shaftoe

Jack Shaftoe is a fictional character featured in the novels of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle.Jack is an English vagabond turned mercenary turned adventurer....
 raided the Tower of London
Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames....
 specifically to tamper with the Pyx, Viscount Bolingbroke and Charles White use the event as leverage for a political attack against Whigs
British Whig Party

The Whigs are often described as one of two political party in Kingdom of England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries....
, and specifically Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton, Fellow of the Royal Society was an English people physicist, mathematician, Astronomy, Natural philosophy, Alchemy, and Theology and one of the the 100 in human history....
.

See also

  • Halsbury's Laws of England
    Halsbury's Laws of England

    Halsbury's Laws of England is a definitive Encyclopedia treatise on the English Law published by LexisNexis Butterworths. It includes restatements of the common law with remarks to the relevant judgement and the statutory law which has in many cases codification, modified or supplemented common law....