Q: Does a final ; semicolon in a clause bring in all prior definitions? Confused on punctuation and grammar.
“Street” means a right-of-way, easement or prescriptive right-of-way dedicated to, and under the authority of, the City of X; a State highway; a private road, easement, or prescriptive right-of-way; and which is customarily used for automobile travel and for providing vehicular access to abutting property.
Do then each of these have to have customary automobile travel in order for them to qualify as a Street?
A:
In legal writing, the use of a semicolon in a clause like the one you've described typically functions to separate items in a list that are all governed by the opening statement of the clause. In the definition you provided for "Street," the semicolon is used to list different types of ways or paths that are included in the definition.
Based on this structure, each item listed after the opening phrase "Street means a right-of-way, easement or prescriptive right-of-way" would need to meet the criteria stated at the end of the clause, which is "customarily used for automobile travel and for providing vehicular access to abutting property." This means that for a path to be considered a "Street" under this definition, it should be commonly used for automobile travel and providing vehicular access, regardless of whether it's a right-of-way under the city's authority, a state highway, or a private road.
In essence, the final part of the sentence ("and which is customarily used for automobile travel and for providing vehicular access to abutting property") applies to all the elements listed previously in the definition, linked by the semicolons. This is a common way to structure legal definitions in order to provide clarity and specificity.
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