Comma
Originally short titles had a comma preceding the year; whether this is retained or not depends on the country involved: it has been dropped in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but retained in Canada.
United Kingdom
It is actually not necessary to use the comma as, although normal punctuation is now used by draftsmen, and is included in Queen's Printer's copies of Acts of Parliament, it is not part of an Act of Parliament.
The comma preceding the calendar year in printed copies of Acts is omitted on the authority of a note by Sir Noel Hutton QC, First Parliamentary Counsel, as to which see "The Citation of Statutes" 82 LQR 24-24. The validity of this note is questioned by Halsbury's Laws of England, Fourth Edition, Reissue, Volume 44(1), footnote 10 to paragraph 1268.
Glanville Williams said that it "seems sensible" to omit the comma preceding the calendar year in references to Acts passed before 1963.
Ireland
In citing an Act by its short title, a comma immediately before a reference to a year and a comma immediately after such a reference that is not required for the purpose of punctuation may be omitted.
Read more about this topic: Short Title
Famous quotes containing the word comma:
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“From one casual of mine he picked this sentence. “After dinner, the men moved into the living room.” I explained to the professor that this was Ross’s way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up. There must, as we know, be a comma after every move, made by men, on this earth.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)