Court Opinion

ID: 9688653
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:59:28.587097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:40.809699
License: Public Domain

CATES, Presiding Judge
(concurring).
Professor Sands, in Sutherland’s Statutory Construction (4th ed.) § 47.15, points out that today punctuation is a part of an act, an intrinsic aid to its construction. However, the use of punctuation as a cudgel is not permissible to “distort or defeat the intention of the legislature.”
The Alabama cases range from Danzey v. State, 68 Ala. 296; Cook v. State, 110 Ala. 40, 20 So. 360; Ex parte Garrett, 262 Ala. 25, 76 So.2d 681, through Earnest v. State, 40 Ala.App. 344, 113 So.2d 517. They seem to run the gamut from Mr. Justice Harlan’s expression that punctuation is disregarded—Hammock v. Loan and Trust Co., 105 U.S. 77 at 84, 26 L.Ed. 1111 to Learned Hand’s. “* * * [T]he English doctrine that the punctuation of a statute shall not count does not apply in this country.” — Lone Pine Lawn Corp. v. Helvering, 2 Cir., 121 F.2d 935.
Danzey, supra, adopts the former view because, among other things, legislative procedure is based on hearing statutes read,1 i. e., the ear is the apprehending organ, not the eye. Garrett, supra, says a significant comma may not be disregarded.
I consider that a statute must be taken from its four corners with punctuation as an aid to fulfillment of the Law and not as its destroyer.
*713“* * * Punctuation marks may, in proper cases, be regarded as aids in arriving at the correct meaning of statements in a statute, but in construing statutes, punctuation cannot be accorded a controlling influence. Courts do not hesitate to repunctuate, when it is necessary to arrive at the true meaning. — 2 Bouv.Law Dict. 487, Tit., ‘Punctuation,’ and authorities cited; Danzey v. State, 68 Ala. 296. It is evident from reading the whole statute, that a semicolon was improperly used, and that a mere comma after the words ‘to sell’ would have been the proper punctuation. When thus read, it is evident the grounds of demurrer directed against this portion of the statute were properly overruled.” Cook, supra.
With reference to § 401(a) of the Alabama Uniform Controlled Substances Act, my examination of the legislative documents persuades me that subsection (a) consists of two sentences with the first ending with “$25,000,” 2 and the second beginning with “Except * * I agree with Judge Tyson that the colon was part of the legislative author’s direction to show the start of the amending language.
However, I do not think we can ignore the instruction of the legislative amendment which describes the added exception as a sentence.
The import of this construction does not help the appellant in his contention that a second or subsequent conviction of possession of marihuana — though each time only for personal use — is only a misdemeanor. To me it is clear that the Legislature as to subsequent convictions of possession of marihuana intended: (1) to remove the misdemeanor penalty even if the subsequent possession was for personal use only and (2) that all second or subsequent convictions of marihuana possession would under the first sentence of § 401(a) carry a sentence not less than two years nor more than fifteen years.
This would mean that § 407 would not apply to marihuana possession cases, though it would to selling.
DeCARLO and BOOKOUT, JJ., concur herein.

. Today we consider that the written draft is paramount. The legislative committees on enrolled bills should be accorded credit.

. Fowler, Modern English Usage (1940) Revision) under Stops, p. 569 says under the heading Colon:
“As long as the Prayer-Book version of the Psalms continues to be read, the colon is not likely to pass quite out of use as a stop, chiefly as one preferred by individuals, or in impressive contexts, to the semi-colon; but the time when it was second member of the hierarchy, full stop, colon, semi-colon, comma, is past; in general usage, it is not now a stop of a certain power available in any situation demanding such power, but has acquired a special function, that of delivering the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words; it is a substitute for such verbal harbingers as viz. soil, that is to say, i. e., &c.”
Kittredge and Farley, Advanced English Grammar, p. 309 says:
“1. The colon is used—
a. To show that the second of two clauses repeats the substance of the first in another form, or defines the first as an appositive defines a noun.
* * * * *
“Note: The colon is less used than formerly. The tendency is to use a semicolon or to begin a new sentence.
“2. The semicolon is used when the clauses are of the same general nature and contribute to the same general effect, especially if one or more of them contain commas. * * *
* * * * *
“3. The comma may be used when the clauses are short and simple (see p. 307).
“Note: The choice between colon, semicolon, and comma is determined in many cases by the writer’s feeling of the closer or the looser connection of the ideas expressed by the several clauses, and is to some extent a matter of taste.”