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Legal Tender
(A). The circulating medium of a nation, according to a
standard fixed by the government of that nation. It may be in metal, in
paper, or anything else that the government may choose to sanction. In
England, at present (1895), the standard is a gold sovereign,
guaranteed of a fixed purity. In some countries it is silver, and in
some countries the two precious metals are made to bear a relative
value, say twenty silver shillings (or their equivalents) shall equal
in commercial value a gold sovereign. In Germany, before 1872, a very
base silver was a legal tender, and in Ireland James II. made a
farthing the legal tender represented by an English shilling, so that
5d. was really a legal tender for a sovereign. Of course, export and
import trade would
not be possible under such conditions.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Legal Tender from Infoplease:
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