Law 51B2B - Penalty Cards
This law states that, with penalty cards in 2 or more suits, the declarer can prohibit the offender’s partner from leading any one of those suits, but that the offender can make ‘any legal play’ on those tricks. Does this mean they are not bound by the normal penalty card rules for the duration of the prohibition, or does it mean that they’re still bound by Law 50 (in which case declarer chooses the card played by the offender out of the remaining penalty cards). I’d always assumed the latter but the law seems oddly phrased if that is the case (since they can’t really make any play at all, the declarer is telling them what to play).
Comments
I don't see it as oddly phrased. The player may well not have a penalty card of the suit led and is therefore free to make any legal play. If the player does have a penalty card of the led suit, then the usual restrictions apply. If the player doesn't have a card of the suit led, then any remaining penalty card would need to be played and if there are more than one of them still remaining, declarer would specify which.