'Hung by a comma' is the title of a free event at the Law Society next Monday to mark 100 years since Roger Casement, pioneering human rights investigator, British diplomat - and Irish patriot - was hanged for high treason under a law dating from 1351.

Casement's trial and execution have been dogged by controversy ever since, with attention focusing on the Court of Appeal's ruling that a comma should be read into the Norman French of the 1351 Treason Act, thereby extending its application to treason committed outside the realm. 

Casement, who was captured after being landed by German submarine on the west coast of Ireland in the run-up to the Easter Rising, had been found guilty of attempting to recruit Irish prisoners of war in Germany to fight for independence. However he was also famous for his work investigating Belgian colonial atrocities in the Congo and the exploitation of native Peruvians by the rubber industry.  

In the centenary lecture, Mr Justice McCloskey, Immigration and Asylum Chamber president, will speak on Casement's work, trial - and on the right to life. The event, which begins at 5.45 on Monday 10 October, is free to attend. To register, go to the Law Society website.