Baking for the common good: a reassessment of the assize of bread in Medieval England1
重新评估中世纪英格兰面包法令的结构及其对面包师和消费者的实际影响，揭示立法者基于当时经济与道德理念的合理设计，但存在一个根本缺陷影响执行。
This article reassesses the structure of the assize of bread and its relevance for bakers and consumers in late medieval England. It has long been thought that the laws governing the manufacture and sale of bread, although adhering to a logical relationship between weight and price, were nevertheless ill‐considered in formulation, calculation, and enactment and did not, in reality, provide the stable allowance recommended for bakers. By examining the economic and moral ideology underlying the assize of bread it is possible to demonstrate that legislators were actually employing a rationale that best fitted contemporary circumstances and retail practices. There nevertheless remained one fundamental flaw in its construction, which was to have implications for its enforcement.