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Thorburn v. Sunderland City Council 2003

Can anyone outline the Thorburn v. Sunderland City Council case for me? I'm supposed to have read it for a tutorial tomoz but forgot and can't get hold of it before i need it.

Reply 1

Fireman John

The Metric Martyr... I dont have my notes to hand, but... from memory (it was only a fortnight ago!!!);

Thorburn wanted to continue selling in imperial units. There had been an EC directive that would impliedly repeal the "weights and measures act 198?". Consequently, Throburn (or his legal team) came up with the rather unorthodox and cunning plan - they would try to say that the Weights and Measures Act impliedly repealed the EC Act 1972... the priniciple being that when new legislation is enacted and it "covers" an existing situation, the new legislation overrides that pre-existing law. Throburn tried to say that becuase the Weights and measures Act (which allowed imperial units) came after the EC Act - it (W&M) had effectively repealed the EC Act - or at the very least the legislation enacted under it's umbrella that affected "weights and measures"...

I think that's it in priciple.

Reply 2

superdillon

Weights and Measures Act 1985 (I think). Either way it was after the 1972 Act which is the important bit.

Reply 3

Lewisy-boy

The case is fairly straightforward if I remember correctly.

Reply 4

Fireman John

Was reading my notes last night at work - rather concerned that I ommitted it from my initial summary, but this was the case in which Lord Justice Laws uttered the phrase "constitutional statute" - i.e. that even if Thorburn had a reasonable claim, implied repeal might not be relevant - effectively suggesting that not all Acts are equal - that some are effectively entrenched merely because of the subject matter they relate to.