If the BWMA is right, then the UK is the only country in the world that can prosecute the use of a system of units by private persons. A person who has a sign saying 'Bed and Breakfast 100 m' on private land with public access could be dragged before a judge and become a real Metric Martyr. No country ever has banned the use of any measuring units by private persons. A Select Committee in 1816 proposed to make the possession of non standard weights and measures in Britain penal for ANY PERSON who was caught with them. A person having a meter stick or a kilogram weight in the kitchen or other living areas would have been liable to imprisonment, a fine or both! It was never carried through. That would be a 'cause cel�bre', if a pro-metric person in Britain who had placed a metric sign pointing to his property was prosecuted. The BWMA would gloat if he or she was fined 3000 pounds with 30 000 pounds of legal costs and show its true colours at once, viz,. that it is not pro-choice at all. They never stood up for the publican who sold beer in metric glasses and was fined 3000 pounds, the forgotten Metric Martyr. At least private persons should be free in this matter, even these idiots from the Maporama site.
Han ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 2002-03-12 20:53 Subject: [USMA:18715] Re: UK road signs On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 10:22:00 -0800, Ezra Steinberg [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: So, Chris, what do you make of the Minister's reply to Lord Howe's query? Are we at a "dead end" (so to speak) when it comes to metricating distance and speed limit signs? So it appears, Ezra. That doesn't mean that we won't keep the pressure on, and we are trying to publicise these criminal activities as much as possible in the hope that it will shame the government into doing something. And what's the real story behind signs not on the motorways (like those on private lanes and the like). What is their legal status? If they are genuinely private, then there is (I believe) no question that the law does not apply. However, according to the BWMA site, a previous court case ruled that the legislation applies to private land where the public has access to it. Chris UK Metric Association: http://www.metric.org.uk/
