From April's Referee Magazine...

[Warrenkicker]

Originally posted by KWH
OK, so...
In the Casebook play 8.5.2 SITUATION D,
Why is Team A not "technically" guilty of multiple fouls?

1) Illegal Forward Pass, 7-5-2c - A pass intentionally thrown into an area not occupied by an eligible offensive reciever.
2) Illegal Touching, 7-5-13 - An ineligible A player has illegally touched a forward pass if he bats, muffs, or catches a forward pass while he is in or behind the neutral zone, unless the pass has been touched by B.

There is no proof in the description that there wasn't an eligible receiver in the area. So what we should rule on here is again based on what we assume. I would agree that you can't have illegal touching if there is no receiver in the area. The pass was illegal before it was touched.

It might be similar to having an offensive blocker hold a defender by the facemask. You aren't going to call holding and facefask.