Curly question

One side effect of the decline in court coverage is that fewer people share the wit that is sometimes on display. One case in point emerged from the High Court at Auckland. In a rather dry case over a property deal, the plaintiff complained the defendant had unlawfully held him by “the short and curlies”. Justice Palmer ruled: “It is not wise to assume legal obligations will not need to be discharged. Mr Haines’ grasp on Mr Hornsby’s short and curlies was not illegitimate.”