modelling the L-shape ( (-1,1)x(-1,1)\(-1,a)x(-1,a) )x(-1,0) gives an unreasonably fine mesh near origin. When setting a=0.0, FEniCS 1.2.0 on OS X 10.8 runs into an endless loop.
from dolfin import *
a = 0.001
quader1 = Box(-1, -1, -1, 1, 1, 0)
quader2 = Box(-1, -1, -1, a, a, 0)
mesh = Mesh(quader1 - quader2, 5)
plot(mesh); interactive()