[blml] Law 12 A 1.

[Guthrie]

[DALB]
[SNIP]
Don't get me wrong. I am entirely and implacably opposed to the notion
that the rules of any game should have any basis in real-life notions
of what is "equitable". I think that the rules of a game should
determine what is and what is not legal while the game is being
played, and that as long as people operate within those rules while
playing the game, no censure of their morality or standards of ethical
behaviour is appropriate in the least. That's why people play games,
for pity's sake - games are a momentary escape from life, where we
have to judge ourselves and be judged by others according to vague and
woolly notions of what is "right", or "fair", or "just".
[SNIP]
I don't believe that umpires should be telepaths - I believe they
should be robots, who apply a set of rigid rules to any given set of
circumstances, with the same outcome in the same circumstances for Mrs
Guggenheim and Mr Helgemo. No one was more abashed than I was when
that idiot Hallberg claimed his contract on a double squeeze and was
awarded his contract, even though the outcome was extremely favourable
as far as I was concerned (regular readers will know what I am talking
about; irregular readers need not care). But there are enough
benighted souls out there who think that the laws of bridge, unlike
the laws of any other game in the entire history of the entire world,
should somehow incorporate notions of "fairness", "justice",
"equity" and - may angels and ministers of grace defend us -
"sportsmanship", imported from real life. The 2007 Laws differ from
preceding versions largely to the extent that they attempt to embody
these vague ideas by using words such as "rectification" instead of
"penalty".

[nige1]
I feel that David Burn speaks for most players on these issues; but I
fear that the agenda of directors (including player-directors) is
subtly different ...

For a director, the law-book concept of "Equity" (remedying an
irregularity by re-establishing the situation before an infraction) is
a more difficult and interesting challenge than applying a simple
deterrent penalty.

Furthermore, the resulting "Equity" rulings encourage subsequent 
infractions that further enhance the director's role and increase the 
  player's reliance on the director.

I think directors also relish the prospect that the preface to the new 
laws promises: to exercise more subjective judgement and to wield more 
personal influence on results.