Lowe v Auckland City Council [1993] NZHC 238

For those who haven't read this rather droll New Zealand High Court  judgment concerning an unregistered German shepherd called Ben - here it is: http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/1993/238.html.

The last few sentences are particularly fine:


"The late Professor Davis campaigned tirelessly in his years as a law professor and Dean of Law at Auckland to end discrimination between cats and dogs. In his view (expressed in the august pages of no less than the Modern Law Review) dogs are rigorously controlled, whilst, if I may be permitted the expression, cats are entitled to ponce about town, completely unregulated. Was there something in the new New Zealand Bill of Rights which would end this shameful discrimination and assist Mr Lowe?


I began formulating an oral decision in my mind. Then I realised that I was mumbling aloud, and the Registrar was looking at me strangely, or perhaps more strangely than usual.


Pragmatism, some will say fortunately, took over.

The decision of the learned District Court Judge is quashed, and I substitute therefore a fine of $20.00. I urge upon the appellant the wisdom of the registration of Ben.


Cave canem (again, for the uninitiated, beware of the dog)."

R G Hammond J

But what if I can't find it on the internet?

Pauline Westwood in the Canberra Times


Libraries have lost more than books - research service standards have fallen too. 

Jack Waterford's article ''The library of discarded books'' (May 5, p19), about the destruction of paper-based books by librarians highlighted a disturbing trend largely ignored by mainstream media. With the growth in the use of information technology, many new tools have potentially increased our access to knowledge.



But because of cost-cutting policies and the mantra of ''digitisation at all cost'', we are in danger of decreasing rather than increasing our access to information over time. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in libraries. It is driven by an over-reliance on new technology, in turn propelled by the forces of managerialism and economic rationalism.

Read more here