[blml] Tie me kangaroo court, sport [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Robert Geller]

There are only two places in the laws where it is specifically authorized
for a player to attempt to prevent an irregularity (below).   Both refer
to the same thing, namely dummy's attempts to prevent declarer from
committing an irregularity:
*********************************************************
L9A2b2 Dummy may attempt to prevent declarer from committing an irregularity 
(Law 42B2). 

L42B(2) [Dummy] may try to prevent any irregularity by declarer. 
*********************************************************


OTOH, the rest of the laws authorize a player to call attention to an 
irregularity, but do not explicit authorize a player to try to prevent
an irregularity (see below). 
********************************************************
L9A1 
Unless prohibited by Law, any player may call attention to an irregularity during the 
auction, whether or not it is his turn to call. 

L9A2a   Declarer or Either Defender 
Unless prohibited by Law, declarer or either defender may call attention to an 
irregularity that occurs during the play period. 
********************************************************


Maybe one of the drafters of the 1997 Laws (if any are reading this) can explain
how this distinction arose.  Was it intentional that "attempting to prevent an 
irregularity" was not specifically mentioned in L9A1 and L9A2a (i.e., was it
intended not to authorize this) ?   Or was this an oversight?   

In any case, as Tim Wes-Meads poined out earlier, the lack or clarity could be
rectified by reworded   L9A1 and L9A2a to either prohibit or allow attempts
to prevent irregularities.



I have a question (maybe for Richard Hills).   We've been discussing attempts
to stop partner from making a BOOT.  How about a LOOT?   If pard has
led face down it seems to be generally accepted that you can tell him it's
not his lead, and he can put the card back in his hand without penalty.
I never really thought about this before, but L41A seems to imply the director
should be called and then he can instruct the player to put the face-down
card back in his hand.   In practice, the players seem to do this themselves. 

But my question is of the same general nature.  Law 41A specifically 
discusses how an irregularity in the openeing lead (still face down)
can be corrected.   But there's no mention in the Laws of one defender
trying to prevent his partner from leading out of turn at a later trick.
Do you think this should this be allowed?   Have there been any rulings on 
this by the Laws body in Oz?

In any case, as Tim pointed out, if Law 9 were reworded to explicitly preclude
or explicitly allow attempts to prevent irregularities this discussion wouldn't
be needed.  Then we'd have to find something
else to talk about.   Maybe we should hope they don't change Law9..    :-)

If my partner goes down in a cold contract 
by forgetting to count trumps, due to brain lock,
I as dummy (or defender) have to take this as part of the game.   I don't
seee why if pard tries to bid out or turn (due to brain lock) it should be
allowable to pipe up and save him/her from folly in this one instance of
brain lock, but not others......   This is my philosphical objection to allowing
the attemts to stop BOOTs by pard.   But if the laws were clear one way or
the other then obviously we should all follow them.

-Bob 


richard.hills at immi.gov.au writes:
>Eric Landau:
>
>>ISTM that the heart of the issue here is whether the legal auction
>>to that point is one of those "things [that] can never be UI".
>>The ABF seems to think so, and I would agree,
>
>Richard Hills:
>
>Me too.  The first phrase of Law 16 states: "Players are authorised
>to base their calls and plays on information from legal calls..."
>
>It seems to me that "the legal auction to that point" is a subset
>of "information from legal calls".
>
>
>Best wishes
>
>Richard James Hills, amicus curiae
>National Training Branch
>02 6225 6285
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>blml mailing list
>blml at amsterdamned.org
>http://www.amsterdamned.org/mailman/listinfo/blml

-----------------------------------------------------
Robert (Bob) Geller,     Tokyo, Japan        geller at nifty.com