Law 26 B
There are other Laws, e.g. 27 B 3, where it is stated that the lead restrictions in Law 26 may apply.
How do we interpret the word 'may' in such laws. Does it mean that the lead restrictions always apply and if not, what determines whether the lead restrictions are applicable or not.
Comments
I always took it to mean that the "lead restrictions in law 26 may apply" simply means that directors are reminded of the possibility of the need to apply said restrictions (or at least offer them to Declarer).
It makes life easy for the law-writers. All that has to be done is to refer to the lead-restricting law rather than have to type out the whole gamut of options each time.
I think it means 'L26 applies if the conditions for its application are met'.
Then why not simply say 'Law 26 applies'. They say that in other cases, for instance 'see Law ....'. Why confuse the issue by inserting the word 'may'.
Can we visualise an instance in, say, Law 27 B 2, where the conditions for its application are not met?
When the offending side ends up declaring.
Maybe the offending player's partner never gets the lead on defence.
Seems I had a mental block! I only thought of those situations where the offenders would be in a position where the partner would be subject to the penalty and I wondered why it should not always be applicable!