McDonald's being allowed to open up shop on the Island.

And he told the Court of Appeal that claims by the legal team of Solicitor General William Pearce and Jamaican constitutional lawyer Lloyd Barnett that the anti-fast food law did not deprive Grape Bay Ltd. of its legal right to sell Big Macs was wrong.

Mr. Diel said: "Remember that this was the sole reason Grape Bay was incorporated -- it's difficult to imagine anything more important.'' Mr. Diel agreed with English legal precedents quoted by Mr. Justice Michael Kempster, which said it was "deplorable'' for courts, after considerable expense had been incurred, to rule that an agreement was not binding.

The Grape Bay lawyer added: "It would be even more deplorable if the court were to do so based on a party which was not a party to the agreement.'' Mr. Diel pointed out that Grape Bay had to run their plans past the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Finance Ministry and both had to be satisfied that the company was in line with the 60/40 rule banning majority foreign ownership of firms and that McDonald's would not itself be doing business in Bermuda.

He said that both watchdogs had at the time regarded agreements between Grape Bay, McDonald's and their agents as binding.

Mr. Diel added: "There is no doubt, in my respectful submission, that the Minister of Finance regarded that as binding and the Attorney General too, at that time. This entire issue was vetted by the Attorney General.'' And he asked how Government could ensure compliance with the 60/40 rule if the agreements put forward as part of the incorporation application were not regarded as binding.

Mr. Diel said: "I could enter into a non-binding agreement with Pizza Hut, say, then come before the Minister with the requirements of the policy, then go away and completely renegotiate the entire contract so it's not in accordance, having got my permission.'' He was speaking on the third day of an appeal by Mr. Pearce and Dr. Barnett against an earlier Supreme Court decision by Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux.

Mr. Justice Meerabux ruled that Grape Bay had been deprived of property rights, which are guaranteed under the Bermuda Constitution.

The Court of Appeal face-off is the latest in a bruising round of burger battles.

The anti-burger Prohibited Restaurants Act was signed into law last year -- after Grape Bay Ltd. won approval to operate a McDonald's in Bermuda, with the first slated for a site at the new-look Airport.

And he claimed that Mr. Pearce's insistence that -- even supposing McDonald's was to carry on business in Bermuda -- the firm could not get a permit to do so was incorrect.

But he said McDonald's sending its products to Bermuda for sale by a wholly-Bermudian company was not "carrying on business'' on the Island.

Mr. Diel added: "You can imagine the nightmare -- a grocery store deals with thousands of suppliers. You could say they were all doing business in Bermuda.'' And he turned around an argument that McDonald's were not in the hamburger business, but in the business of selling franchises.

Mr. Diel told the three-judge Appeal Court: "Here is where the entire fallacy of the argument is.'' The hearing continues.