[blml] agreements [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[richard.hills at immi.gov.au]

Alain Gottcheiner:

>1. "I don't understand that agreement" doesn't necessarily mean "we've
>no agreement". Something TDs and ACs keep forgetting.

[snip]

Richard Hills:

I disagree.  In my opinion, an agreement is a _mutual_ understanding of
_both_ partners, not a _unilateral_ assumption by _one_ partner.  If one
member of the partnership never understood the Kalamazoo Club system,
then the partnership does not have an agreement to use the Kalamazoo Club
system.

Alain Gottcheiner:

>3. If a pair says "for everything undiscussed, we follow the Kalamazoo
>Club system", and the players have different ideas of said system, do
>they have an agreement ?

Richard Hills:

In my opinion, no.  If one partner thinks that they are playing the
Kalamazee Club system, but the other partner thinks they are playing the
Kalamazaa Club system, then at best the partnership has a partial
agreement that they play the common-to-both-systems Kalamaz Club methods.

Alain Gottcheiner:

>In particular, may a book on that system be used by the TD/AC to
>determine the agreements ?

Richard Hills:

Of course, it is possible that a member of a partnership may understand
the Kalamazoo Club system, but _temporarily and infrequently forget_
their understanding.

So _if both_ players read that book and _if both_ players initially
understood that book, and _if both_ players mutually agreed to play by
the book, but then one of those players _temporarily and infrequently_
forgot what that player had initially understood, _only then_ the book
may be used to determine agreements.  Therefore, in effect, the book has
become the partnership's system notes.

But if a player frequently forgets the Kalamazoo Club system, instead
frequently bidding according to the Idiosyncratic Individual system,
then those frequent forgets create an implicit partnership agreement.

Law 75B:

"habitual violations within a partnership may create implicit agreements,
which must be disclosed"

Best wishes

Richard James Hills, amicus curiae
National Training Branch
02 6225 6285