160. Wofford Heights Associates v. Kern County
District Court of Appeal, Fifth District, California. August 5, 1963 219 Cal.App.2d 34
Headnote: Omission of comma following word ??conduit? in phrase ??pipe, pipelines, pole, pole lines, wire, conduit or any other
form of installation? as used in reservation clause of deed, did not preclude words following ??conduit? from modifying earlier
words ??pipe and pipelines?.
So the Oxford Comma (or omission thereof) is the core of the issue?
I'm waiting on a case which turns on whether there should be two spaces after the period or only one.
I prefer the Walken Comman, myself.
I'm waiting for a case in the UK where one side says the other side missed a deadline because they keep GMT, which does not have leap seconds, while the other side claims they did meet the deadline because December 31 was extended by 1 second. Not especially survey related, but certainly related to GNSS, which are one of the few ways to distribute time accurately enough for such a case to come up.
skwyd, post: 449302, member: 6874 wrote: So the Oxford Comma (or omission thereof) is the core of the issue?
It depends on what your definition of is, is.
Ah did not have..................................:)
ashton, post: 449337, member: 422 wrote: I'm waiting for a case in the UK where one side says the other side missed a deadline because they keep GMT, which does not have leap seconds, while the other side claims they did meet the deadline because December 31 was extended by 1 second. Not especially survey related, but certainly related to GNSS, which are one of the few ways to distribute time accurately enough for such a case to come up.
The English have case dealing with a pocketbook left in a Barbershop. Who owns it? The finder (another customer), the barber, or the original owner.
In the "legal universe of Attorneys" an Oxford comma is called a serial comma. Both of which mean always place a comma preceding "and". 😎
https://mariebuckley.com/lets-get-serious-about-the-serial-comma/ o_O
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
In her style guide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves&apos ;">Eats, Shoots & Leaves, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Truss&apos ;">Lynne Truss writes: "There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.
http://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/16-1901/16-1901-2017-03-13.pdf
BARRON, Circuit Judge: For want of a comma, we have this case. It arises from a dispute between a Maine dairy company and its delivery drivers, and it concerns the scope of an exemption from Maine's overtime law. 26 M.R.S.A. ?? 664(3). Specifically, if that exemption used a serial comma to mark off the last of the activities that it lists, then the exemption would clearly encompass an activity that the drivers perform. And, in that event, the drivers would plainly fall within the exemption and thus outside the overtime law's protection. But, as it happens, there is no serial comma to be found in the exemption's list of activities, thus leading to this dispute over whether the drivers fall within the exemption from the overtime law or not.
James Fleming, post: 449474, member: 136 wrote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
In her style guide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eats,_Shoots_%26_Leaves&apos ;">Eats, Shoots & Leaves, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Truss&apos ;">Lynne Truss writes: "There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.
I think the one space, two space (after the period) controversy is even more vicious.
My daughter complained about her S.O. (11 years older) using two spaces after the period on a certain on-line platform and I came in on his side and hoo-boy, don't do that. Always support your adult children no matter their poor choices 😉
Dave Karoly, post: 449477, member: 94 wrote: I think the one space, two space (after the period) controversy is even more vicious.
Well...that's because "one space people" (excluding your daughter, of course) are in league with Satan.
James Fleming, post: 449482, member: 136 wrote: Well...that's because "one space people" (excluding your daughter, of course) are in league with Satan.
The Style Manual of the California Supreme Court is very clear that only one space shall follow a period....
so you may be on to something there.
In interpreting legal descriptions I (probably like most other surveyors) look at different elements including potential typos that support it making sense, (and) including going to extrensic evidence. A perfect example is finding when the scrivener called for a northwest bearing and you discover that correcting it to southwest proved closure that you didn't have before. If courts are going to say that anything like a misplaced comma or other typos change the intent of the document (instead of investigating the surrounding data in context) then there are a lot of legal descriptions that could be found to be termed "inadequate".
How would a 'reasonable man' interpret a sentence that didn't have the oxford comma. Does it make much more sense when you add the comma?
(and thanks for the pettifog word. I had to look that up. It means what you would typically think it means even if it should really be spelled with a "i" instead of a "y" ;))