The last antecedent rule is a doctrine of interpretation of a statute, by which "Referential and qualifying phrases, where no contrary intention appears, refer solely to the last antecedent." The rule is typically bound by "common sense" and is flexible enough to avoid application that "would involve an absurdity, do violence to the plain intent of the language, or if the context for other reason requires a deviation from the rule.". Further qualifications have been noted to application of the rule: The last antecedent rule is also applied to contract interpretation.