Garrick Rules Interpretation
Garrick Rules Interpretation
Garrick Rules Interpretation
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OPINION
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restriction on the persons who may be members relates to
circumstances of bankruptcy (and even that restriction can
be waived as a bar to membership by the General Committee
following due inquiry). We do not consider that, on the
ordinary understanding of the language of the Rules, they
exclude women. Nor do we consider that the de facto
position of the Club as an all-male Club indicates any
contractual intention to restrict access to men only.
Indeed, the absence of an express provision to formalise
what has been the de facto position is an objective
indication that the drafters of the Rules have never formed
a settled contractual intention to limit membership to men.
“Objects
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6. Following proposal pursuant to Rule 3, the Rules provide
for a process of recommendation of candidates by the
proposer and seconder by way of a letter to the General
Committee (Rule 4), and a vote on the election of the
member by the General Committee in line with prescribed
rules as to the votes needed for admission (Rule 5).
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10. Rule 16 provides:
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without payment of an entrance fee or procedure of re-
election if in all the circumstances and after due enquiry
it thinks fit to do so”.
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17. The language used is key to construction. See Chitty on
Contract, 35th edition at 16-064:
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(d) The masculine includes the feminine and vice
versa.”
III. Analysis
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the masculine denotes the feminine unless the context
otherwise requires. We note that section 61(d) LPA 1925
makes statutory provision to that effect which operates as
a matter of law, but we doubt whether that provision makes
a material difference to the position which would apply in
any event, under the ordinary usage of the English
language. Section 6(a) of the Interpretation Act adopts a
similar principle for the interpretation of statutes.
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explained above, the original objectives relate to
pursuits which are not exclusively male. The term
“gentlemanly” is plainly being used here in the sense
of the meaning “[o]f a pastime, behaviour or thing”
that is “of high quality; excellent”: see Oxford
English Dictionary, Meaning 2. 3 That is the only
meaning which makes sense in the context in which
what is being referred to is “accomplishment and
scholarship” “consistent with the original
objectives” because those original objectives are not
in themselves of the nature of male pursuits or
interests. The use of “gentlemanly” is therefore
denoting the quality or excellence of the aimed
“accomplishment and scholarship”; not that it should
be accomplishment and scholarship by men;
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wholly neutral as to sex, to be interpreted as in
fact restricted to “male Heads of Diplomatic
missions” 4, “male visitors to this country”, and
“other male persons as the General Committee may from
time to time decide”;
Committee.
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member. The scheme of the Rules is to leave it to the
discretion of the General Committee (of course,
guided by the objects) to determine who should be a
member. That there is provision for one circumstance
(bankruptcy) in which membership is prohibited
(absent exercise of discretion otherwise by the
Committee) is an indication that there are no other
bars to membership. The approach taken by the
founders of the Club (and those who may have revised
the rules thereafter), is permissive rather than
prescriptive, leaving decisions as to who can join
and who cannot 7 to the General Committee;
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in the context of Rule 20 therefore plainly refers
to the quality of the conduct: whether it is noble
or courteous etc., and not whether it is conduct
typically displayed by men.
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exercise of Committee discretion, following “due
inquiry”);
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Rules 18, 16 and 7(3) should be interpreted as referring
only to men, such that only men are permitted to be members.
27. We are of course aware that the Club is, and always has
been, an all-male members club. However, that is a
consequence of the discretionary choices of members and
the General Committee as to who should be a member rather
than any express provision in the Rules restricting those
eligible to be members.
29. For all these reasons, it is our opinion that the Rules
do not bar women from eligibility for membership of the
Club.
LORD PANNICK KC
EMILY NEILL
Blackstone Chambers
Temple, London
EC4Y 9BW
19 March 2024
9 We note the last line of Rule 1 which suggests on its face that it was an
amendment.
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IN THE MATTER OF:
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OPINION
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Tessa Gregory
Leigh Day
Panagram
27 Goswell Road
London
EC1M 7AJ
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