Eminent lawyers claim* that the government's attempt to put the European Union metrication directive into law is illegal. This is because lb/oz units are expressly permitted by the Weights & Measures Act 1985 and cannot be nullified by mere regulations, or a Statutory Instrument, invoking the earlier European Communities Act of 1972. It is a fundamental precept of English law that no parliament can bind its successors.

Confronted by this awkward situation the Department of Trade & Industry in its advice to LACOTS, the UK Local Authority enforcement co-ordinating body, tries to overturn centuries of English legal tradition and pretends that the European Communities Act of 1972 "prevails over any subsequent legislation." If true, which it is not, then we could never escape from any European Union directives by Act of Parliament.

This incorrect application of the law is not the only reason why the Weights & Measures (Units of Measurement)Regulations 1994 are unenforceable. The government is telling deeply unhappy shoppers that they can still ask for loose goods in imperial measures but shopkeepers must give them the metric equivalents. This is quite contrary to the Law of Contract. An essential element of this is the principle of consensus as to terms. By asking for, say a pound of apples, the purchaser and seller are entering into a binding contract and it is the duty of the seller to give a pound of apples, not some metric approximation.

Another reason why the Metrication Regulations are unenforceable is because they are prescriptive - only those measures actually listed as legal can be used in commercial transactions. Criminal law tells us what we cannot do- not what we must do! Prescriptive laws are a European concept and alien to British law.

Barristers are also advising, now that it is clear the law is unenforceable, that if Trading Standards officers insist on traders changing to metric then the TSOs are guilty of the offence of "harassment."

Press release distributed by David Delaney, BWMA Hon Public Relations Officer, Mortimers Cross Mill, Leominster, HR6 9PE, (Tel: 01568 708 820, FAX 01568 708 765, e-mail dtdelaney@compuserve.com).