Comentário não funciona

Por que ao comentar a parte tabela antiga do código me retorna um NullPointerException? Caso eu delete o código comentado, o erro não acontece.

        <h:form id="formTabelaDeAutores">

                <p:dataList value="#{autorBean.autores}" var="autor" type="definition">
                    <f:facet name="header">
                        Autores
                    </f:facet>

                    <p:commandLink styleClass="ui-icon ui-icon-pencil" style="float:left;margin-right:10px" action="#{autorBean.carregaAutor(autor)}" update="@form :autor"></p:commandLink>
                    <p:commandLink styleClass="ui-icon ui-icon-trash" style="float:left;margin-right:10px" action="#{autorBean.removeAutor(autor)}" update="@form"></p:commandLink>

                    #{autor.nome} - #{autor.email}
                </p:dataList>

         <!-- <h:dataTable id="tabelaDeAutores" value="#{autorBean.autores}"
                var="autor">
                <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">Autor</f:facet>
                    <h:outputText value="#{autor.nome}" />
                </h:column>
                <h:column>
                    OPÇÂO USANDO UMA CLASSE JAVA PARA CARREGAR AUTOR NO TEXTBOX
                    <f:facet name="header">Alterar</f:facet>
                    <h:commandLink value="altera"
                        action="#{autorBean.carregaAutor(autor)}"></h:commandLink>
                </h:column>
                <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">Remover</f:facet>
                    <h:commandLink value="remove"
                        action="#{autorBean.removeAutor(autor)}"></h:commandLink> 
                </h:column> 
            </h:dataTable> -->


        </h:form>

Type Exception Report

Description The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.

Exception

javax.servlet.ServletException
    javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:671)
    org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
Root Cause

java.lang.NullPointerException
    br.com.caelum.livraria.bean.AutorBean.carregaAutor(AutorBean.java:43)
    sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor202.invoke(Unknown Source)
    sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    javax.el.BeanELResolver.invoke(BeanELResolver.java:158)
    javax.el.CompositeELResolver.invoke(CompositeELResolver.java:79)
    org.apache.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:159)
    org.apache.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:184)
    com.sun.faces.facelets.el.ELText$ELTextVariable.toString(ELText.java:228)
    com.sun.faces.facelets.el.ELText$ELTextComposite.toString(ELText.java:161)
    com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.CommentInstruction.write(CommentInstruction.java:77)
    com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.UIInstructions.encodeBegin(UIInstructions.java:82)
    com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.UILeaf.encodeAll(UILeaf.java:183)
    javax.faces.render.Renderer.encodeChildren(Renderer.java:176)
    javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:890)
    javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1856)
    javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1859)
    javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1859)
    com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:458)
    com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:134)
    com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:120)
    com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:219)
    javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:659)
    org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
Note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the server logs.