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INTERNAL PROTOTYPE — NOT LEGAL ADVICE — DO NOT SEND

Taylor v. Burke, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 77 (2007)

Citation
Taylor v. Burke, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 77 (2007)
Parent Document
Taylor v. Burke, 69 Mass. App. Ct. 77 (2007)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
2007-05-17

Full Text

656 chars
We recognize that ordinarily, in the interpretation of statutes, “matters of punctuation are not necessarily determinative,” Globe Newspaper Co. v. Boston Retirement Bd., 388 Mass. 427, 432 (1983), as punctuation may represent a preference in style and not the considered judgment of the legislature, Commonwealth v. Maillet, 400 Mass. 572, 578 (1987), nor be indicative of legislative intent, Commissioner of Rev. v. Dupee, 423 Mass. 617, 621 (1996). Punctuation, however, may be considered as an indication of the purpose of the legislation where different readings might result in ambiguity. See Greenough v. Phoenix Ins. Co., 206 Mass. 247, 252 (1910).