Legal roots

The substitutionof science for Solomon in the judgment of disputes between neighbours should only be for the good. If DNA testing can show that one's wall is collapsing because of Mr Jones' plane tree two doors down and not Mr Smith's, all the better for community feeling and litigation costs.

But don't assume it will do away with the arguments, or the recourse to courts. The battle of the privet hedge is far too strong a pastime to be cast aside by the absolutes of the laboratory test. So DNA can tell you whose vegetation is running amok, but can it tell you the source of the football that broke your window, the rubbish that was thrown into your yard or the car that scraped yours during the night? Don't worry, lawyers, you'll still be needed a while yet.