lamford, on 2018-March-01, 13:57, said:
I think that both players should always wait to see if their partner wants to accept it first. I have never seen the TD called over a play from the wrong hand, but I guess he should be.
Even if TD was called, I wonder what he would decide and with what certainty.
This discussion has been enlightening, but my tentative conclusion is that the law as it stands is unnecessarily ambiguous.
I would sugest that law 55A:
"If declarer has led out of turn from his or dummy’s hand then either defender may accept the lead as provided in Law 53 or require its retraction (after misinformation, see Law 47E1). If the defenders choose differently then the option expressed by the player next in turn to the irregular lead shall prevail."
be modified as follows:
"If declarer has led out of turn from his or dummy’s hand then any player may draw attention to this infraction. The player next in turn must then either accept the lead as provided in Law 53 or require its retraction (after misinformation, see Law 47E1), or ask his partner to make the same decision."
Obviously this would also require small modifications to 53A and 10C2.
It might occasionally put the player next in turn in a difficult spot, but I think it still maintains defender's right to decide while indicating clearly how to proceed, without delays or risk of UI.