>Bob McClure wrote:  It seems that the farmer would insert a wire
>through the hole and stop the rotation of the rotor when he didn't want
>his electricity usage recorded.
>
NOT only US farmers were that clever, but a dutchman in the "thirties" had
the same idea... This resulted in a still famous Dutch Supreme Court
decision (as my law books are still packed because of my recent move to
Australia, I am afraid I can not give the official reference). At the time
the crime of  "theft" on the Criminal Code was defined as: " taking  a good
or goods belonging wholly or partly to others, without their consent and
with the intent of keeping it as your own good".  Under dutch criminal law
only crimes as defined as such on the statute book are punishable. The
universal principle being that one can only be punished for an act of which
it is made clear in advance that it is  a punishable offence. (One of the
problems of prosecuting war criminals after WW II as war crimes had not been
defined as such at the time).
Well the "hole driller" pleaded that electricity  - one cannot "take it
away" as it is - was not a "good" so the taking of electricity would not be
punishable. This plea was accepted in the lower courts, but the dutch
Supreme Court ("Hoge Raad")  held that is was  and that theft of electricity
was theft of a good as indicated in the relevant par. of the criminal code.
After that our clever dutchman -  for a while  - was able to enjoy some more
free electricity at the cost of the dutch taxpayer....
 Henk Tobbe -
VK2GWK - HENK

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