UdcaDenny, on 2015-March-31, 03:58, said:
A card could in principle be designated by declarer, dummy or defenders, though in practice I've never known a situation where this law applied to anything but a card in dummy designated by declarer.
I think the words of the law itself make clear that designating is not the same as playing, or else (a) below would make no sense. I'm afraid it'll take more than an assertion from your friend in New York for me to believe that "designates" means "plays".
Quote
as the card he proposes to play.
(b) Until his partner has played a card a player may change an
unintended designation if he does so without pause for thought. If
an opponent has, in turn, played a card that was legal before the
change in designation, that opponent may withdraw the card so
played, return it to his hand, and substitute another (see Laws 47D
and 16D1).
As to whether this law should be re-written, I've proposed exactly that to the WBF Laws Committee, but from the perspective that the phrase "Until his partner has played" is unclear and is interpreted in different ways in different jurisdictions.