賣菜老太力抗歐盟
倫
敦東區以犯罪活動猖獗而著稱﹐從連環殺人犯“開膛手傑克”(Jack the Ripper)到“雙生殺手”克雷兄弟(Kray twins)﹐層出不窮。而最近被列為犯罪分子的卻是“瑞德里路市場”經營蔬菜攤的63歲老太太珍妮特•戴沃斯(Janet Devers)。她的罪名是：賣菜時僅以磅和盎司為計量單位。
戴沃斯太太的家族經營這個菜攤已有60年﹐但她現在面臨13項犯罪指控﹐原因是不以千克和克為計量單位出售產品﹐涉嫌破壞歐盟的一項規定﹐即歐盟所有成員國在貿易中必須使用標準化的公制單位。除英國外﹐歐盟其他國家使用的都是公制單位。
但英國人用品脫計量牛奶和啤酒﹐路程則以英里計算。“大英帝國時代的計量單位我們都熟悉﹐也一直這麼用﹐為什麼要改變？”另一個蔬菜攤老板斯考特•羅邁克斯(Scott Lomax)反問道。
戴沃斯太太在2008年1月18日的聽證會上拒絕認罪﹐英國小報大肆報導她的立場﹐一時間令其成為風雲人物。如果被判有罪﹐她可能會面臨高達13萬美元的罰款。
“這件事真讓人惡心﹐”戴沃斯太太對指控發表意見﹐“有人持刀行兇﹐有人謀財害命﹐而他們把我送上法庭﹐只是因為我用磅和盎司賣東西。”
同樣非法的是用碗來賣東西﹐有十項指控涉及的是﹐她在賣蘇格蘭柿子椒等蔬菜時﹐以碗為計量單位。
2000 年﹐英國為符合歐盟的公制計量要求﹐推出新的計量法﹐但其中有一個除外條款﹐並得到歐盟的認可。條款規定﹐商人必須使用公制重量單位﹐但可同時使用英制單 位。 戴沃斯太太在2007年底遭到指控的原因在於﹐她的所有商品上都沒有公制單位的價格﹐她的兩台秤只能稱量磅和盎司。
英制計量體系至少從中世紀起就開始應用﹐目前主要在英國和美國使用。公制計量體系創立於200多年前的法國﹐而法國是與英國僅隔一條海峽的老對手。
排斥公制計量體系被視為英國遲遲不肯融入歐洲大陸各成員國的諸多跡象之一。英國抱著英鎊不放﹐不願加入歐元貨幣體系﹔英國人在馬路的左邊開車﹔英國政客經常持“反歐盟整合”的態度﹐通過抨擊歐洲大陸來取悅部分選民。
最近一個天氣陰沉的週四下午﹐在倫敦東區名叫哈克尼(Hackney)的低收入居民區﹐土耳其人、亞洲人和加勒比黑人在“瑞德里路市場”採購商品﹐小販的吆喝聲此起彼伏﹐比如“50便士一籃芒果”等﹐一個賣海報和T恤衫的小攤傳出震耳欲聾的西印度群島音樂。
在1月份的寒風中﹐戴沃斯太太頭戴一頂人造絨帽子﹐在菜攤做生意﹐身後擺放著成堆的茄子、生姜、綠豆（一磅豆子售價一英鎊）。雖然最近她把蔬菜的價格同時以磅和公斤為計量單位標出﹐但她表示﹐顧客還是喜歡論磅稱菜﹐有時甚至會抱怨﹐說她用公斤是想糊弄他們。
“我總是論磅買東西。”60歲的兼職店員索菲亞•萊維奇(Sophia Levicki)說﹐她經常光顧戴沃斯太太的菜攤。“如果東西又便宜又好﹐我就會買。”她一邊說﹐一邊稱了兩磅新鮮的紫皮茄子。
在旁邊賣菜的羅邁克斯先生同時以磅和公斤標價﹐這是最近幾年當局多次警告他之後才改的。“顧客根本不懂公斤的概念。”他說。和許多攤主一樣﹐他使用公制秤﹐這是他在2000年英國推行歐盟公制計量體系後添置的。
戴沃斯太太在2007年9月的一個週四開始惹上官司的。兩名當地政府官員在兩個警察的陪同下﹐來到菜攤沒收她的英制秤。他們告訴戴沃斯太太﹐這是非法的計量單位﹐她不能用磅和盎司稱東西。“我當時火冒三丈。” 戴沃斯太太說。她問警察﹐政府有權這麼做嗎？警察說是的。
在聖誕節前後﹐戴沃斯太太收到一封67頁的信函﹐對她提出13項罪名﹐包括一項不準確標價的指控﹐以及兩項使用英制秤的指控。此外﹐她還面臨10項用碗出售商品的指控。
“我覺得這太不合理了。” 戴沃斯太太說。她表示﹐以碗為單位標價是一種常見做法﹐因為顧客認為這樣很值。“如果政府要告我﹐那他們就得告所有賣菜的。”
對戴沃斯太太提起指控的政府官員艾倫•拉茵(Alan Laing)說：“我的工作職責之一就是督促商人遵守相關的計量法律。”
戴 沃斯太太不是新計量制度下的第一個犧牲者﹐包括她哥哥在內的四個攤主在2000年的一起最高法院上訴中敗訴﹐原因就是沒有使用公制計量法。他們被有條件釋 放﹐也就是說﹐只要他們在一定時間內不再違法﹐就不會對其採取懲罰措施。一群曾為四個攤主奔走呼籲的人正在為戴沃斯太太籌集罰金﹐並把他們稱為“公制烈 士”。
這個問題的實質是﹐“到底誰在統治英國？”來自英格蘭森德蘭市的呼籲者尼爾•赫倫(Neil Herron)說道。
在 哥哥的幫助下﹐戴沃斯太太找到一些願意只收取象徵性費用為她提供法律援助的律師。他們的辯護策略是爭論各種法律細節﹐比如以前頒佈法律中關於英制計量的一 個漏洞等。此外﹐歐盟近期對英制計量的寬鬆態度也讓他們看到了希望。迫於英國企業以及與英美有貿易關係的公司所施加的壓力﹐歐盟議會最近提出一項議案﹐允 許英國無限期地同時使用英制和公制單位﹐而不是於2009年逐步廢除英制計量體系。該項議案還在等待歐盟委員會批准。
戴沃斯太太的律師團還讓顧客出庭作證﹐說他們買東西時喜歡以磅為單位﹐一位參與此案的律師說道。
戴沃斯太太面臨每項罪名1萬美元的罰款﹐總計約13萬美元。“這會徹底毀掉我﹐” 戴沃斯太太說。她不願披露自己的收入狀況﹐但說她已經取消去紐約看她雙胞胎妹妹的計劃﹐因為有犯罪記錄纏身﹐她很難獲得美國簽證。
一個週五的下午﹐戴沃斯太太出現在倫敦東區的泰晤士地方法庭﹐並表示自己無罪。
她的辯護律師尼古拉斯•伯文(Nicholas Bowen)嘲笑政府提出的這些指控。“如果有人在溫布爾登賣一扁籃草莓﹐那是不是也犯法？”他質問道。英國人都知道﹐一扁籃草莓相當於幾把草莓﹐約合半公升。
戴沃斯太太及其律師團贏得初步勝利。地方法庭同意辯護律師的請求﹐將此案交給陪審團裁決。陪審員中有一些經常買菜的人﹐可能會同情戴沃斯太太的遭遇﹐赫倫律師說道。
戴沃斯太太離開法庭回菜攤時﹐臉上露出了微笑。正義的天平﹐她說﹐“還是掌握在人民手中。”
Cassell Bryan-Low
Pound For Pound, A Veggie Peddler Takes On The EU
London's East End is notorious for its criminals, from serial murderer Jack the Ripper to mobsters the Kray twins.
The latest candidate for this rogue's gallery is Janet Devers, a 63-year-old woman who runs a vegetable stall at Ridley Road market. Her alleged crime: selling goods only by the pound and the ounce.
Ms. Devers, whose stall has been in the family for 60 years, faces 13 criminal charges stemming from not selling her produce by the kilogram and the gram. She stands accused of breaking a European Union-instigated rule that countries must use metric measures to standardize trade. The rest of Europe is metric.
But Brits drink their milk and beer by the pint. On the road they rack up miles. Imperial measurement 'is what we know, how we are. Who's to tell us to change?' said Scott Lomax, a fellow vegetable-stall owner.
Ms. Devers, who pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Friday, is being lionized for her stand in Britain's feisty tabloids. If convicted, she could be fined as much as $130,000.
'It's disgusting,' said Ms. Devers of the charges. 'We have knifings. We have killings,' she said. 'And they're taking me to court because I'm selling in pounds and ounces.'
And, equally illegally, in bowls. Ten of the counts against her relate to purveying produce, such as hot Scotch-bonnet peppers, by the bowl.
The United Kingdom wrote an exemption into its measurements law to meet the EU metric requirement in 2000, as Brussels allowed. It stated that traders must use metric weights, but they could use imperial measures as well. The problem is that Ms. Devers allegedly didn't have metric prices on all of her produce when she was charged late last year, and two of her scales only measured in pounds and ounces.
The British imperial system dates back at least to medieval times. Notable holdouts still using it are Britain and the U.S. It doesn't help that the metric system was created over 200 years ago across the Channel in France, England's ancient archrival.
Aversion to the metric system is one of many signs of the U.K.'s lingering reluctance to integrate with its continental neighbors. Britain shuns the euro in favor of the pound sterling, drives on the left-hand side of the road and has a tradition of 'euroskeptic' politicians who thrill some sections of the public by bashing the Continent.
One recent overcast Thursday afternoon at Ridley Road market in Hackney, a low-income district in East London, shoppers from Turkish, Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities browsed the stalls. Shouts from traders touting deals like '50p a basket of mangoes' mingled with reggae music blasting from a stall that sells posters and T-shirts.
Insulated from the chilly January day in a faux-fur- trimmed hat, Ms. Devers chatted up customers from behind her covered stall piled with eggplant, ginger, green beans (GBP 1 a pound for the beans). Though her signs currently carry prices in pounds as well as the equivalent in kilograms, she said her customers prefer pounds -- and sometimes complain when she uses kilos that she's trying to cheat them.
'I always shop in pounds,' said Sophia Levicki, a 60-year-old part-time shop clerk and a regular at Ms. Devers's stall. 'If it's good enough and cheap enough, I'll buy it,' she added, as she asked for two pounds of shiny, purple-skinned eggplant.
Nearby stall owner Mr. Lomax added prices in kilos as well as pounds to his signs after warnings from local authorities in recent years. 'The customers don't understand kilos,' he said. Like many stall owners he uses metric scales, which he got after the EU metric directive was introduced into U.K. law in 2000.
Ms. Devers's trouble with the law began one Thursday this September, when two representatives from the local government council, accompanied by two policemen, came up to her stall and seized her imperial scales. They told Ms. Devers she was using illegal scales and that she wasn't allowed to weigh in pounds and ounces, she said. 'I was furious,' said Ms. Devers, who asked the police officers if the council was allowed to do that, to which they responded that it was.
Around Christmas, a 67-page letter landed in her mail. It outlined 13 criminal charges against her, including one charge of improper pricing of goods and two charges related to using imperial scales. She also faces 10 counts related to selling by the bowl.
'I think it's so ridiculous,' she said, noting that pricing per bowl is common practice because customers perceive it as good value. 'If they're going to do me for bowls, they have to do the whole country.'
Alan Laing, an official with the local authority that is prosecuting Ms. Devers, said that 'making sure traders comply with weights-and-measures legislation is also part of the job.'
Ms. Devers wouldn't be the first to be pounded down by the metric law. Four market-stall owners -- including her brother -- lost an appeal to the High Court in 2002 for not using metric measurements. They received conditional discharge -- which means no further action is taken as long as they don't break the law again within a specific period of time. A group campaigning to pardon them is helping coordinate financing for Ms. Devers's case and calls them 'metric martyrs.'
It's about 'who governs Britain,' says campaigner Neil Herron, from Sunderland, England.
With the help of her brother, Ms. Devers found lawyers willing to take on the case for a nominal fee. Their planned legal strategy is to argue various technicalities such as a loophole for imperial scales that predate the law. They plan to lean on what they see as a recent softening in Brussels. After pressure from U.K. companies as well as others that trade with Britain and the U.S., the European parliament recently adopted legislation that would let the U.K. continue to use imperial alongside metric measures indefinitely, instead of phasing it out by next year. The measure is awaiting European Council approval.
Her legal team may also call customers as witnesses to say that they like paying pounds for pounds, one of the lawyers involved said.
Ms. Devers faces fines of up to $10,000 per charge, or a total of about $130,000. 'It would ruin me,' said Ms. Devers, who declined to detail her earnings. She says she canceled a planned trip to New York with her twin sister, because having a criminal record could make entering the U.S. difficult.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Devers appeared in Thames Magistrates Court in East London. She pleaded not guilty.
Her barrister, Nicholas Bowen, mocked the nature of her alleged crimes. 'If somebody sells a punnet of strawberries at Wimbledon is that a criminal offense?' he asked. A punnet, as all Britons know, is roughly the equivalent of a couple of handfuls -- or about half a liter.
Ms. Devers and her legal team won a victory of sorts. The magistrate granted their request that the case be tried by a jury. Jurors, with perhaps some shoppers among them, will likely be sympathetic, Mr. Herron says.
Ms. Devers smiled as she left the courthouse to go back to her stall. The scales of justice sit, she said, 'in the hands of the people.'
Cassell Bryan-Low
The latest candidate for this rogue's gallery is Janet Devers, a 63-year-old woman who runs a vegetable stall at Ridley Road market. Her alleged crime: selling goods only by the pound and the ounce.
Ms. Devers, whose stall has been in the family for 60 years, faces 13 criminal charges stemming from not selling her produce by the kilogram and the gram. She stands accused of breaking a European Union-instigated rule that countries must use metric measures to standardize trade. The rest of Europe is metric.
But Brits drink their milk and beer by the pint. On the road they rack up miles. Imperial measurement 'is what we know, how we are. Who's to tell us to change?' said Scott Lomax, a fellow vegetable-stall owner.
Ms. Devers, who pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Friday, is being lionized for her stand in Britain's feisty tabloids. If convicted, she could be fined as much as $130,000.
'It's disgusting,' said Ms. Devers of the charges. 'We have knifings. We have killings,' she said. 'And they're taking me to court because I'm selling in pounds and ounces.'
And, equally illegally, in bowls. Ten of the counts against her relate to purveying produce, such as hot Scotch-bonnet peppers, by the bowl.
The United Kingdom wrote an exemption into its measurements law to meet the EU metric requirement in 2000, as Brussels allowed. It stated that traders must use metric weights, but they could use imperial measures as well. The problem is that Ms. Devers allegedly didn't have metric prices on all of her produce when she was charged late last year, and two of her scales only measured in pounds and ounces.
The British imperial system dates back at least to medieval times. Notable holdouts still using it are Britain and the U.S. It doesn't help that the metric system was created over 200 years ago across the Channel in France, England's ancient archrival.
Aversion to the metric system is one of many signs of the U.K.'s lingering reluctance to integrate with its continental neighbors. Britain shuns the euro in favor of the pound sterling, drives on the left-hand side of the road and has a tradition of 'euroskeptic' politicians who thrill some sections of the public by bashing the Continent.
One recent overcast Thursday afternoon at Ridley Road market in Hackney, a low-income district in East London, shoppers from Turkish, Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities browsed the stalls. Shouts from traders touting deals like '50p a basket of mangoes' mingled with reggae music blasting from a stall that sells posters and T-shirts.
Insulated from the chilly January day in a faux-fur- trimmed hat, Ms. Devers chatted up customers from behind her covered stall piled with eggplant, ginger, green beans (GBP 1 a pound for the beans). Though her signs currently carry prices in pounds as well as the equivalent in kilograms, she said her customers prefer pounds -- and sometimes complain when she uses kilos that she's trying to cheat them.
'I always shop in pounds,' said Sophia Levicki, a 60-year-old part-time shop clerk and a regular at Ms. Devers's stall. 'If it's good enough and cheap enough, I'll buy it,' she added, as she asked for two pounds of shiny, purple-skinned eggplant.
Nearby stall owner Mr. Lomax added prices in kilos as well as pounds to his signs after warnings from local authorities in recent years. 'The customers don't understand kilos,' he said. Like many stall owners he uses metric scales, which he got after the EU metric directive was introduced into U.K. law in 2000.
Ms. Devers's trouble with the law began one Thursday this September, when two representatives from the local government council, accompanied by two policemen, came up to her stall and seized her imperial scales. They told Ms. Devers she was using illegal scales and that she wasn't allowed to weigh in pounds and ounces, she said. 'I was furious,' said Ms. Devers, who asked the police officers if the council was allowed to do that, to which they responded that it was.
Around Christmas, a 67-page letter landed in her mail. It outlined 13 criminal charges against her, including one charge of improper pricing of goods and two charges related to using imperial scales. She also faces 10 counts related to selling by the bowl.
'I think it's so ridiculous,' she said, noting that pricing per bowl is common practice because customers perceive it as good value. 'If they're going to do me for bowls, they have to do the whole country.'
Alan Laing, an official with the local authority that is prosecuting Ms. Devers, said that 'making sure traders comply with weights-and-measures legislation is also part of the job.'
Ms. Devers wouldn't be the first to be pounded down by the metric law. Four market-stall owners -- including her brother -- lost an appeal to the High Court in 2002 for not using metric measurements. They received conditional discharge -- which means no further action is taken as long as they don't break the law again within a specific period of time. A group campaigning to pardon them is helping coordinate financing for Ms. Devers's case and calls them 'metric martyrs.'
It's about 'who governs Britain,' says campaigner Neil Herron, from Sunderland, England.
With the help of her brother, Ms. Devers found lawyers willing to take on the case for a nominal fee. Their planned legal strategy is to argue various technicalities such as a loophole for imperial scales that predate the law. They plan to lean on what they see as a recent softening in Brussels. After pressure from U.K. companies as well as others that trade with Britain and the U.S., the European parliament recently adopted legislation that would let the U.K. continue to use imperial alongside metric measures indefinitely, instead of phasing it out by next year. The measure is awaiting European Council approval.
Her legal team may also call customers as witnesses to say that they like paying pounds for pounds, one of the lawyers involved said.
Ms. Devers faces fines of up to $10,000 per charge, or a total of about $130,000. 'It would ruin me,' said Ms. Devers, who declined to detail her earnings. She says she canceled a planned trip to New York with her twin sister, because having a criminal record could make entering the U.S. difficult.
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Devers appeared in Thames Magistrates Court in East London. She pleaded not guilty.
Her barrister, Nicholas Bowen, mocked the nature of her alleged crimes. 'If somebody sells a punnet of strawberries at Wimbledon is that a criminal offense?' he asked. A punnet, as all Britons know, is roughly the equivalent of a couple of handfuls -- or about half a liter.
Ms. Devers and her legal team won a victory of sorts. The magistrate granted their request that the case be tried by a jury. Jurors, with perhaps some shoppers among them, will likely be sympathetic, Mr. Herron says.
Ms. Devers smiled as she left the courthouse to go back to her stall. The scales of justice sit, she said, 'in the hands of the people.'
Cassell Bryan-Low
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