I would think that it will be a one day trial. It is just an offence, not a
crime he committed. It might be drawn out, however, if lawyers from UKIP and
BWMA seek it higher up.
When the Netherlands went metric in the 1820's, sometimes 25 or more 'metric
martyrs' were tried together in one sitting and on one day, especially in
large cities like Amsterdam and Brussels! The standard punishment was a fine
of 10 guilders (which was high for the time), or 1 or 2 days in jail and
confiscation of the offending weights and measures, in order to be
destroyed. These objects could be old, not verified, or even offenders
possessing old and not verified. If the inspector and the policeman
encountered resistance or had been insulted, the fine would be much higher
and it could also lead to a few weeks in prison.
The court of Brussels liked to impose 25 guilders or even higher fines on
offenders. Many of the latter applied to the government and in many cases
the fine was lowered to 10 guilders.
A woman had stolen a 500 g weight from a shop. She got 6 months in prison
for this theft!
Han
-----Urspr�ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
An: "U.S. Metric Association"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Gesendet: vrijdag 3 november 2000 06:24
Betreff: [USMA:8970] Trial date coming up
> 2000-11-03
>
> If I'm not mistaken, the date set for Steven Thoburn trial is 2000-11-09,
which is less then a week away. What can we expect to happen on the first
day? Would this be a one day court case, or can it be dragged out over
days, weeks or months? I know you can't leak out any pertinent information,
but if you can give us an outline of the standard procedures, it would be
helpful.
>
> Also, as the date approaches, are there any rumblings in the press, or is
everyone waiting for the 9-th to fire their ammo?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
