Punctuation and the Interpretation of Statutes

Abstract

On the morning of August 3, 1916, at Pentonville Prison in England, Roger David Casement, former Knight of the Realm, was hanged. Sir Roger's last thoughts on that ultimate morning may well have centered on the incredible series of misadventures and blunders that led to his arrest some four months earlier, but his lawyer's thoughts almost certainly centered on punctuation. It was indeed an improbable set of mishaps that led to Sir Roger's arrest, but it was punctuation that eventually and inexorably did him in.