Ignorance of the Law Is No Defence

When I was in my late teens there was a card game we used to play at lunchtime.

We called it “Rules.”

The set-up

Shuffle the deck.

The game is set up by dealing seven cards from a standard deck to each player and one card face up — that’s the discard pile. The remaining cards are put face down as the draw pile.

The hook

The dealer starts the game by playing a card onto the discard pile, and picking up a card from the draw pile. Turns go clockwise, with each player doing the same. Once each player has played a card, that’s the end of round 0, and round 1 begins. And so on, round by round.

If the draw pile runs out, the discard pile (minus the last card) is taken, turned over, and becomes the new draw pile.

If you’re wondering why I’m describing a card game played by teenagers in the eighties, keep reading. All is revealed in the last section.

The tale

So far, so boring. For round zero there are no rules other than playing a card and drawing a card. Anyone can do that. But after round zero, each player can add a rule to the game. Rules have a rank:

1. affect a specific card only
2. affect a specific number
3. affect picture cards
4. affect number cards
5. affect a suit
6. affect a color
7. anything goes

If the round is divisible by the rank, then the player who just played a card gets to add a new rule to the game. Here are some examples of rules that a player could add, based on the rank of the rule:

1. if you play the Jack of Hearts, the order of play reverses, that is, if play is going clockwise, it now goes anti-clockwise
2. if you play a six, the next player skips a turn
3. if you play a picture card, you must play a second card immediately, and draw two cards from the draw pile
4. if you play a number card with number X, the next X times a card is placed on the discard pile, the player must say, “Whassaap!” while playing their card
5. if you play a heart, you must play a second heart immediately, and draw two cards from the draw pile
6. if you play a red card the next player can only play a black card, and vice versa, forever more. Any player who doesn’t have a suitable colored card must keep drawing until they do, and then play it
7. players must touch their nose every time the person after them plays a card

The number of rules never decreases within a game.

The wire

You may be wondering, how does the game end?

There are four ways a player can be “sent to jail,” that is, is kicked out of the game. Two are straight-forward, and two are not so straight-forward.

The first is by failing to observe a rule, and being called out on that before the next player puts down a card. For example, if a rule says that a player must play a second card after a heart, and they don’t, and someone calls them on it, then they’re out.

The second is by incorrectly calling a player out on breaking a rule. For example, if in the previous example the caller says that the player should have exclaimed “Whassaup” while playing their heart card, and that was a rule from a previous game, then the caller is out.

The third is by being called out on on a rule you propose that contains a contradiction. That is: if there is the possibility that a player could play a card such that the new rule in combination with a previous rule cannot both be satisfied, and someone calls the player making the rule out on that, then the rule-maker is out (as is the rule).

The final way is playing a card and discovering through that that you’re bound by two rules that cannot both be satisfied at the same time. Bad luck — you should have complained when the later rule was passed.

The shut-out

People are allowed to discuss the rules of the game as the game progresses. This is highly encouraged.

In quick versions of the game, writing down the rules is not allowed, but some variants (that take a lot longer to play), you are allowed to do so, and even write notes and interpretations about the rules.

In fact, as the game proceeds, you will find that discussions become more and more common, until eventually, most of the game involved talking rather than doing.

The sting

Why have I spent so much time describing a card game to you?

Simple!

I spent some time re-reading the “European Union directive 2014/65/EU” (Markets in Financial Instruments), commonly known as MiFID 2, and revisiting “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Markets in Crypto-assets, and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 COM/2020/593”, commonly known as MiCA. The latter for the seventh time.

And then I realized what EU regulation reminds me of.

It reminds me of card game in which the rules just increase and increase, get longer and more convoluted, and never seem to end, until eventually you’re spending your time arguing and interpreting them rather than doing the very thing they’re supposed to regulate.

It reminds me of “Rules.”