In Lewisham on March 2nd,
council officials and police seized weighing machines from two market traders,
and returned nine days later to take lb/oz pricing tickets from three more. On
April 8th in Berkshire, Martin Fidler of Bladebone Butchers received a 28-day
infringement notice warning him of prosecution if he continued to use his
imperial scales.
Council officials base their
actions on the ruling by Lord Justice Laws in 2002 that Britain has a new
system of law. Previously, old Acts of Parliament gave way to more recent Acts.
However, Lord Justice Laws said
that the Weights and Measures Act 1985 legalising UK units could not repeal the
earlier European Community Act 1972 that compelled metric because the 1972 Act
was a "constitutional act", as opposed to an "ordinary act". He said that the
1985 Act could only repeal the 1972 Act if it referred to the 1972 Act in the
body of its text.
By creating two types of Act,
constitutional and ordinary, Lord Justice Laws has divided existing and future
Acts into two categories: for instance, ordinary Acts that might say, "Pounds
and ounces are lawful", and constitutional-style Acts that say, "Pounds and
ounces are lawful - this repeals all previous Acts".
Such a distinction is bogus.
Of course new Acts of Parliament repeal all previous Acts, otherwise
what would be the purpose of Parliament passing them? To suggest that
Parliament passes Acts in order not to apply them is logically absurd.
At no point during Mr Thoburn's
trial did Laws' even mention that he was giving Britain a new system of Acts,
meaning that Mr Thoburn had no opportunity to rebut the reasoning on which he
was convicted. Denial of representation is a breach of human rights as defined
by the European Court, and Mr Thoburn was fully entitled to an appeal. Yet, on
February 12th 2004, the ECHR declared Steven Thoburn's appeal inadmissible,
with no explanation.
As a result, thousands of
traders who act in accordance with Parliament's most recent Act now find
themselves at risk of being branded criminals, while officials exercise power
that Parliament never gave them.