Randomiser wrote:SCC raises a valid point about measurement in general. Inches,presumably with feet and yards are universal but not very well defined because they vary from place to place. On the other hand the Writ has injunctions against cheating people so there must be some idea of "an inch is about this much". Presumably the same goes for standards of weight and volume, but the subject in general has just never arisen in the books, except for the many discussions of linear measure.
As discussed elsewhere the archangels probably wanted a degree of variance in standards of measurement to hinder industrialisation.
If the command crew had wanted uniform weight and measures (even if they were based on imperial rather than metric) it would have been fairly straightforward to do so (not necessarily easy, but straightforward).
First create some divine reference prototypes (see Kilogram prototype in Paris) and then assign some order within the Church responsible for ensuring fair weights and measures throughout Safehold. The prototype rulers and weights probably stay in Zion and that order will create copies for use to be carried to local churches by members of the order. Then they act as a local reference standard to ensure everybody's rulers and weights match the Church ones.
There would be some drift, but if you force the regional samples to be brought back to Zion periodically for rechecking against the prototypes the drift it wouldn't be significant.
But they presumably felt less standardization was better and so didn't bother (or at least it hasn't come up yet)