The Elk Mountain pilot., 1901-04-23

In the eyes of the law a great deal
hangs sometimes on comma or a
semicolon. A semicolon lately caused
considerable bother in Boston, says a
writer in the Typographical Journal.
Good authorities on punctuation will
tell you that the semicolon is mainly
used to mark the divisions of a COM
pound sentence, to divide clauses and
expressions depending upon one an
other, to mark sentences connected in
thought. but having no syntactical de-
pendence, and final clauses of infer
ence or explanation. The decision of
Judge Bell of the superior court in
Massachusetts that the presence of
semicolon where there was formerly
a comma made it unlawful for licensed
hotel keepers to sell liquor to patrons
between the hours OF IL p. m. and a.
m. was sustained by the supreme court.
The prohibitory clause in this statute
read:
That no sale OF spirituous or in
toxicating liquors shall be made be-
tween hours of twelve at night and
six In the morning: nor during the
Lords day, except that If the licensee
is also licensed as an inn-holder he
may supply such liquor to guests who
have resorted to his house for food
or lodging" In 1885 the word twelve"
was changed to eleven" If instead
of the semcolon after the word
morning" there had been a comma
the decision of the court would have
been different AS the law originally
was passed in 1875 such a comma was
there. The commission appointed to
consolidate and arrange the statutes of
the Commonwealth in 1880 reported
their consolidation in 1891, and the
semicolon appeared. The difference in
punctuation was overlooked and the
statute with the semicolon instead of
the comma was passed. In nutshell
it may be put thus-a comma would
enable the thirsty one to get drink
in a hotel, and semicolon keeps him
dry. The error can be amended only
by Legislative means, just as in the
case with measures passed by con-
gress Cases of defective punctuation
occurring in acts can be corrected only
by joint resolution of the two
houses, for the law print of a bill
must be an exact copy of the wording,
spelling, punctuation and everything
else contained in the enrolled bill,
which is the copy that becomes a part
of the archives of the federal govern
ment. Another case where a semi
colon played an important part in a
suit was decided in the United States
circuit court of appeals in New York
by Judges Wallace, Lacombe and Ship
man. This was Joseph Frankel's Sons
VS. the United States. The case was
appealed from a decision by Judge
Townsend in the United States circuit
court in New York, and arose from the
tariff act of 1894. The claim was made
by the Frankels, who are dealers in
diamonds that diamonds were free of
duty under a paragraph in the act
which reads: Diamonds: miners,
GLACIERS, and engravers diamonds not
Set" etc. They claimed that the con-
tention of the government that the
word diamonds" beginning the para
graph was used solely and simply as a
sLbheading was not sustained by the
punctuation or typography and that it
was a settled point of law that the
punctuation of tariff act should not
be disregarded for the purpose of CIV
ing effect to a supposed intent The
answer of the government was that
the claim of the appellants was found
ed solely on the fact that semicolon
was used instead of a colon. and that,
therefore the claim was of the most
technical character, that the word
diamonds" at the beginning of the
paragraph was heading, and that the
punctuation was comparatively un-
important and was not a controlling
part of the paragraph. Following are
some extracts from decisions of the
courts on punctuation and the law:
Punctuation is no part of the stat
Hammock VS.. Farmers Trust
and Loan Company.
Punctuation in written contracts
may sometimes shed light upon the
meaning of parties, but it must never
be allowed to overturn what seems the
plain meaning of the whole contract"
Osborne VS.. Farwell, 81 Ill. SO
Punctuation may perhaps be re-
sorted to when no means can be found
of solving an ambiguity but not in
cases where no real ambiguity exists
except what the punctuation itself ere
ates. es."-Weatherly VS.. Mister, SO Nd.
62O.