Of Louis JOURDAN

>May be you are aware that I had undertaken to write a book
> (in French, sorry...) about the development of the metric system  in 
>France and in the world.

> You may see some extracts of it at :
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/louis.jourdan/metrication/metrication.html

Thanks for that and congratulations. My limited French and the online
translation tools gave me some opportunity to read it. Your translation
is very interesting too.

"... il avait �t� finalement emprisonn�, puis condamn� � six mois de
prison avec sursis."

Does that translate to English as "...he was finally imprisoned, then
given a six months suspended sentence."?

If so, then it is not accurate. He was not imprisoned. He was not given
a suspended sentence either. He was given a 'conditional discharge',
which is very different in technical and practical terms. Forgive me if
I have mistranslated. 

I notice similar text in your recent English translation.

Punishment definitions at:
http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/legalaz.html
http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/info/news_items/glossary.htm


I dug around trying to find a good reference on Thorburn's court case
for you. The media is so full of errors that I wanted to provide
accurate references. Unfortunately I could not find an official
reference to the original court judgement. However, here are two
official links that are relevant:

High court appeal judgement:
http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/judgmentsfiles/j1008/THOBURN_v_SUNDERLAND
.htm


UK Trading Standards press release
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/newsitem.cgi?file=pres0154.tx
t&area=pres

--
Terry Simpson
Human Factors Consultant
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.connected-systems.com
Phone: +44 7850 511794 

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