The law is the law

Sunderland Echo
Letters Page
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

In response to Council Watcher (Letters, Feb 3), on February 18, 2002, Lord Justice Laws made an unequivocal statement in his High Court verdict denying the Metric Martyrs appeal against conviction that (in the "new legal era" in which we now live) Constitutional Acts, including the Bill of Rights, cannot be repealed by implication alone, but can be repealed only by explicit wording to that effect.
It is therefore inescapable that, unless and until Lord Justice Law's view is reversed, that is the law.
The 1991 Road Traffic Act which brought in Decriminalised Parking Enforcement did not explicitly repeal Article 11 of the Bill of Rights: "That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction are illegal and void".
Therefore, the 1991 Road Traffic Act is null and void as the law now stands.
In plain and simple terms - either the Metric Martyrs were guilty and the decriminalised parking fine system is illegal, or the Metric Martyrs were innocent and the parking fine system is legal.
One or the other - but not both!
Neil Herron and the Metric Martyrs Campaign's intention is to overturn the wrongful convictions of the Metric Martyrs, including the late Steven Thoburn.
If the convictions are not overturned then nationally, £1billion-worth of parking fines annually are under threat.
If the convictions are overturned and the Martyrs are declared innocent then the case which established the primacy of EU law falls.
Colin Moran
Metric Martyrs Defence Fund
Frederick Street
Sunderland