Section 1.5 – Live and dead jack
18 Live jack in the ditch
18.1 A jack that is moved by a bowl in play into the front ditch within the side boundaries of the rink of play is a live jack.
18.2 The position of a jack in the ditch must be marked by a white indicator, which is not more than 50 millimetres wide and not more than 100 millimetres high and is placed vertically either against the face of the bank or on top of the bank, immediately in line with the jack. As well as the indicator, if the surface of the ditch is sand, lines can be drawn in the sand around the jack. If the surface of the ditch is vegetation or synthetic, the lines can be drawn with chalk.
18.3 The position of a jack in the ditch will be validly altered if the jack is moved by either:
18.3.1 a toucher in play; or
18.3.2 a non-toucher while it is partly on the rink and partly overhanging the ditch, as long as part of the non-toucher is still on the rink when it comes to rest after it has moved the jack.
18.4 If a jack in the ditch is displaced by a non-toucher entering the ditch, law 38.5.3 will apply.
18.5 If, once its position has been marked, there is further valid movement of a jack in the ditch (as described in law 18.3), its new position must be marked (as described in law 18.2) by moving the indicators or removing and redrawing the lines as appropriate.
19 Dead jack
19.1 If the jack is moved by a bowl in play, it is a dead jack if it:
19.1.1 passes completely outside the boundaries of the rink of play;
19.1.2 comes to rest in any hollow in the face of the bank; or
19.1.3 comes to rest at a distance of less than 20 metres, as measured in a straight line, from the centre of the mat line to the nearest point of the jack.
19.2 A jack is not a dead jack if it comes to rest:
19.2.1 on top of a toucher at rest in the ditch; or
19.2.2 on top of any bowls that are at rest within the boundaries of the rink.
19.3 The skips or opponents in Singles must decide whether a jack is dead or not as soon as they realise it is necessary. (If the players do not realise that a decision is necessary as soon as the jack comes to rest, the decision can still be made even if a number of bowls have been played after the jack came to rest.) If they cannot reach agreement, they must ask the umpire to make a decision.
19.4 If the jack is dead, the end is a dead end and law 20 will apply.
19.5 Alternatively, Controlling Bodies can decide not to have the end declared dead. Instead, the jack must be placed with the nearest point of the jack to the mat line at the appropriate re-spot position described in either law 56.5.2 or 56.5.3, or as close as possible as described in law 56.5.4, and play must continue.
20 Dead end
20.1 A dead end is not counted as a completed end even if all the bowls required to be played have been played.
20.2 A dead end must be replayed in the same direction unless the skips or opponents in Singles agree to play it in the opposite direction. (If the jack and bowls need to be transferred to the opposite end of the rink before the end is replayed, they must be transferred in a way which avoids distracting players on neighbouring rinks.)
20.3 If the skips or opponents in Singles or the umpire declare an end dead, the first to play in that end must also play first when the end is replayed.
21 Rebounding jack
The end will continue if:
21.1 when the jack is at rest on the rink, it is driven against the face of the bank and rebounds onto the rink of play; or
21.2 when the jack is at rest in the ditch, it is moved by a toucher and this takes it back onto the rink.
