AMUSING COURT SCENE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7914, 25 September 1911, Page 8

AMUSING COURT SCENE

DOG' WILL NOT JUMP. A doc whose alleged misdeeds were, the cause of the action sat on the bench with his Honor Sir William Self© at the West London, county ciurt last month. It was a black and tan terrier, and it seemed so demure a little dog that the judge cam© to the conclusion that it could not be such a bad character as the plaintiff described it, and judgment was given in favour of the defendant, its masterThe action was brought by a fruiterer against a neighbour, a wine and spirit merchant, claiming damages for injuries done to his garden by the dog, which was alleged to have jumped the fence and played havoc with the ivy, the Virginia creeper, the scarlet, rnamers and the gooseberry bushes. Another witness said that on one occasion the dog made such a noise at nightthat he could not sleep. Sir William Selfe ordered the dog to be brought into court. His Honor, apparently thinking he would test its ability to jump, called to tbe animal to leap over the barrier into the court. "Over! oyer!" l-.e s.'-outed, but the dog sat obstinately waiting to be admitted in.the usual way. The judge whistled, the ushers and defendant and his wife all coaxed the little animal, but it refused to violate court etiquette. On the door being opened the dog walked through, and was placed on the bench bqadde tie judge’s deck, where it coolly promenaded backwards and forwards on his Honor’s papers. Sir William Selfe, in. giving judgment, said: "I do not thing anyone can regard that dog as vicious."-