[time-nuts] law and regulation applying to time.. was Re: OOPS on my wwv legal post

Dr. David Kirkby drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk
Thu Aug 30 22:30:04 UTC 2018


On Thu, 30 Aug 2018 at 14:03, jimlux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:

>
> There may well be a law in the United States, probably buried in some
> enabling or appropriating bill, that says "The Department of Commerce
> shall provide national standards for mass, time, voltage, etc."  but
> that doesn't say "and all residents of the United States shall use only
> the standard provided by the Department of Commerce, and no other"
>
> What about Germany? Notoriously it is "Das Land der Gebote, der
> Vorschriften, und der Verbote."  (Commandments, regulations, and
> prohibitions)
>


In the UK there are laws requiring metric for most things - beer being one
obvious exception I can think of, as I had 3 pints today.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/packaged-goods-weights-and-measures-regulations

That said, it references the "1985 Weights and measures Act"

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/contents

which refers to "United Kingdom primary standards and authorised copies of
the primary standards."

The United Kingdom primary standards shall be—

(a)in the case of the yard, the bar described in Part I of Schedule 2 to
this Act;

(b)in the case of the pound, the cylinder described in Part II of that
Schedule;

(c)in the case of the metre, the bar described in Part III of that Schedule;

(d)in the case of the kilogram, the cylinder described in Part IV of that
Schedule.

Then going to the metre definition, it talks of an X shaped bar

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/schedule/2

I believe that is almost certainly the one held at NPL, and was on display
at the recent "NPL Open House". However, it makes no reference to NPL
directly.

There was a case of a butcher not too far from me who refused to sell meat
in kg.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/629763.stm

I believe he died before going to prison, but he was quite adamant he would
not sell in kg. It would have been interesting if he priced his meat at £12
/ 0.45454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454545454 kg,
which would be £12/pound.

When it comes to time (the subject of this list), I'm not sure where the UK
stands legally. I will ask on the newgroup uk.legal.moderated

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/uk.legal.moderated

which is visited by solicitors, students of law, and people wanting legal
advice.

Dr David Kirkby Ph.D C.Eng MIET
Kirkby Microwave Ltd
Registered office: Stokes Hall Lodge, Burnham Rd, Althorne, CHELMSFORD,
Essex, CM3 6DT, United Kingdom.
Registered in England and Wales as company number 08914892
https://www.kirkbymicrowave.co.uk/
Tel 01621-680100 / +44 1621-680100



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