PROBLEM OF THE CAT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17759, 1 February 1926, Page 6

PROBLEM OF THE CAT.

STATUS MUST BE DECIDED. The Court of Appeal at London conditionally granted an application for leave to appeal from a decision of a King’s Bench Court, made on behalf of Mr George Arthur Buckle, of Leeds, in the case in which he sought to recover damages for pigeons killed by a neighbour’s cat. Mr Buckle is a member of the Leeds Pigeon-Flying Club and the National Homing Union, and he appealed to a King's Bench Divisional Court against the decision of the lower Courts in dismissing an action which he had brought against a Mr W. Holmes for the recovery of £8 for the loss of thirteen homing pigeons and two bantams, which he alleged were killed by Mr Holmes’s cat. The lower Courts held that the responsibility in law was upon the owner of the pigeons to keep them out of the way of cats. Mr Russell Vick said an important point, was raised, and unless leave to appeal was granted, it would be impossible for it to be brought before the Court, as cases did not frequently arise where the pigeons destroyed were of such high value. Lord Justice Scrutton: So far we have got along quite comfortably since the Norman Conquest without deciding the status of the cat. (Laughter.) Mr Yiek said there was no authority at all. Lord Justice Scrutton: You cannot take the defendant right up to the House of Lords and run up all these costs. Mr Sutcliffe said his clients would be prepared to pay all the costs, and the Court then granted leave to appeal on condition that thp plaintiff paid the costs.