The "freedom of expression" issue is an interesting one as it relates to the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It seems very clear that the framers of the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments to the Constitution) intended freedom of speech to be a freedom for a person or persons, not commercial freedom. Unfortunately, a court clerk's notes on a ruling, many decades ago, by a California court ended up being regarded as dicta and the misunderstanding of the source of those notes in many subsequent court cases has produced a plethora of unfortunate precedents. The more precedents there are, the more likely it is that subsequent cases will be decided accordingly -- notwithstanding the original error of interpretation. (This is, in fact, the fundamental basis of English Common Law.) The notes in question were the clerk's interpretation (as opposed to a judge's clarification) of a ruling, in which the clerk assumed that the court intended a company to have the same status as a person. Obviously, a company employs persons and its shareholders are persons, but it is not, in itself, a person. In some ways, one can regard it as a fictional entity (however contradictory that may seem). Surprisingly, the Supreme Court has never been asked (as far as I know) to rule on that issue. Maybe the BWMA members have been using U.S. court rulings based on that error as their model. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of David King >Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 14:14 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:30556] Re: BWMA to challenge the metric only labelling >law in court > > >But as the USA is gradually accepting metric only packaging, then there >should be no problem with companies producing metric-only labelling, in >fact, contrary to BWMA's statement, costs to businesses will be reduced, >as they will now only need one set of packaging for the whole world, >which will be metric only. So far in the UK for many many years most >packaged goods have had metric labelling, mostly metric only, with no >difficulties that I am aware of. I think people are not so stupid as to >stop buying a packet of biscuits, for example, just because the label >only gives mass in grams. The "freedom of expression" statement by BWMA >is ridiculous as the amount of the contents is informative rather than >an opinion, and freedom of expression is related more to opinions than >scientific data. > >David King > > >MightyChimp wrote: > >> Under EC (Should be EU) directive 1999/103, the above-type packaging >> (see >> *http://www.bwmaonline.com/International%20-%20US%20packaging.htm* for >> pictures*)* will be outlawed for sale in the European Union after >> December 2009 - simply because customary units are displayed alongside >> metric. Such a law not only raises costs for international business, >> who would have have to set up two separate product lines for the US >> and EU markets, but is a violation of freedom of expression, since >> traders will be prevented from giving consumers information. BWMA will >> be challenging this directive in court. >
