[blml] "Demonstrably" - practical meaning?

[gesta at tiscali.co.uk]

Grattan Endicott<gesta at tiscali.co.uk
[following address discontinued:
grandeval at vejez.fsnet.co.uk]
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"True luck consists not in holding 
the best cards at the table,
 Luckiest he who knows just when 
to rise and go home."  [John Hay ]
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Guthrie" <Guthrie at NTLworld.com>
To: "Bridge Laws Mailing List" <blml at amsterdamned.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 1:48 AM
Subject: Re: [blml] "Demonstrably" - practical meaning?
 [Nige1]
 Eric's proposal is similar to (but slightly less objective 
 than) what I suggest: that a panel of the player's peers 
 should decide - what are the logical alternatives.
  - what action was suggested by the unauthorised information.
 both of these *without knowing* what action was in fact 
 chosen and the actual result.
> 
 Such assessments are unlikely to be unanimous. Hence 
 to be practical, such protocols depend on probabilistic 
 criteria. They're certainly not "provable". But are they 
 what Bridge law means by "demonstrable"?
> 
+=+ It would be wise to read the law once more. There seems 
to be an assumption in many of the comments in this thread that 
the law requires the Director to determine whether (when there 
is a logical alternative) the action the player took was suggested,
demonstrably, by the UI conveyed from partner.  This is not so.
       The judgement the law requires the Director to make is 
whether, when there is a logical alternative action, the action 
taken by the player "could demonstrably have been suggested" 
over that alternative. It is a case of 'could it have been', not 'was 
it', and it is whether it could have been that the Director must 
judge to be a demonstrable possibility. 'Demonstrable' eliminates 
the obscure and requires the Director to stay in the real world of 
what could be so. He does not have to judge that it actually is so.  
      If the Director forms the opinion that an infraction of law (i.e. 
that the player has selected an action that could have been 
demonstrably suggested as above) and that the offender has 
thereby gained an advantageous result, the Director is required 
to award an adjusted score in accordance with Law 12C. 
                                         ~ Grattan ~   +=+