http://www.footrule.org It contains the eternal lie that they were convicted for selling loose goods in Imperial units, instead of having illegal scales. And there are many more inaccuracies and distortions, eg. they 'forget to mention the metrication decision mande in May 1965 when Britian was not yet a member of the EU. But that is what we can expect from the BWMA anyway.
PRESS RELEASE 12 FEBRUARY 2002 IMPERIAL CLIMAX The background to the coming verdict on the Metric Martyrs' appeal. On Monday 18 February 2002 at 9:00am in the Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Justice Laws sitting with Mr. Justice Crane will give their judgment on the appeal by the five Metric Martyrs against their criminal convictions for selling loose goods by the pound, instead of in metric measures. This will mark the culmination of the campaign by the British Weights & Measures Association to preserve choice in measures and the retention of the imperial system for those who want to use it. That happens to be over 75% of the population. The BWMA was started in 1897 when the French revolutionary metric system first threatened our traditional measures. Although the metric system was made lawful at the time it was always voluntary and it made very little headway. The BWMA lapsed as the threat receded. But in 1994 regulations were passed implementing the European Community directive 80/181/EEC, amended by 89/617/EEC, making it compulsory for the UK to use the metric system exclusively. Mr. Vivian Linacre, an accomplished Scots surveyor, decided to reinvigorate the BWMA to fight this unwarranted and unwanted imposition. He discovered that the EU only wanted us to go metric because it was jealous of the trading advantage the imperial system gave us over our European partners trading with the USA. Vivian Linacre and a band of volunteers studied the complex weights & measures laws. They publicised the way that the metric system was imposed behind parliament's back and against the wishes of the people. BWMA gathered support from many quarters. A vital breakthrough came when barrister Michael Shrimpton discovered that the regulations outlawing the imperial system were themselves unlawful. The preservation of our traditional system of measures had become a colossal constitutional issue. Did parliament give up its independence when it passed the 1972 European Communities Act, our accession to the Common Market; was it entirely subjugated to European Union law, to mere Directives issued by officials in Brussels? If so then, sadly, our imperial measures have been terminated and the brave Metric Martyrs may lose their livelihoods. But if parliament has retained its sovereignty then the compulsory metrication regulations are indeed unlawful and the convictions of the Metric Martyrs must be quashed. Can we trust the judges on Monday to reaffirm the promises made by past ministers that we really do still govern ourselves? Or has the pass been sold and is parliament consigned to impotence forever, a mere province of the European super power? Shall the battle go the House of Lords, even to the European courts? Han (P.S. Stephen, I am posting this from a public computer. I have to be at home to be able to give you an answer to your message. I have to check out what came in last night. Now I can just inform you that I only found a few messages from the list and a few SPAM messages in my mailbox.)
