Oxford Comma Sinks City Ordinance
July 3, 2015
An Ohio appeals court has let a woman off the hook for a parking violation, siding with her interpretation of the posted sign as forbidding any “motor vehicle camper” to be parked for longer than 24 hours. The village of West Jefferson argued that the sign was meant to indicate that neither motor vehicles nor campers were allowed to be parked, and the lack of a comma was simply a typo which should not invalidate the violation. However, “By utilizing rules of grammar and employing the common meaning of terms, ‘motor vehicle camper’ has a clear definition that does not produce an absurd result,” the appeals court ruled. “If the village desires a different reading, it should amend the ordinance and insert a comma.”
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