A senior lawyer has issued a legal opinion saying that the current rules at the men-only Garrick Club do not in fact bar women from being members.
David Pannick KC, who led the successful Brexit article 50 case against the government and has also represented Boris Johnson, was commissioned by Garrick members who are in favour of women being allowed membership of the London gentlemen’s club.
While the club has repeatedly blocked attempts by women to join, a team led by Pannick concluded: “In our view, the language of the rules is clear. There is no prohibition on the admission of female members …
“There is nothing in the language of the rules which excludes the admission of women as members. Indeed… there is no restriction of the proposal of candidates for membership to men.
“Although the language … is phrased by reference to the masculine (‘No candidate shall be eligible unless he be proposed’), it is entirely within the ordinary use of English language that a reference to the masculine denotes the feminine unless the context otherwise requires.”
The emergence of the legal opinion comes after the Guardian revealed that members of the 193-year-old club include King Charles, senior judges and the heads of publicly funded arts institutions and 10 MPs. Simon Case, the head of the civil service, and Richard Moore, the head of MI6, resigned on Wednesday amid pressure over their membership.
The legal opinion cites the 1925 Law of Property Act, which states that, in deeds and other instruments: “The masculine includes the feminine and vice versa.”
Pannick writes that the only counterindication to the understanding that the masculine includes the feminine is the use in the rules of “he/she” when referring to the club secretary.
He says there is no obvious reason why it does so and it might have been added at a time when a female secretary was contemplated or in post, or to make clear compliance with employment law. But “that would not in itself suggest that there is any objective doubt over whether a member can be female by the absence of alternative pronouns”, he adds.
The opinion also states that the objectives of the club “are not such as to indicate that it is a club for the patronage or interest of men only”.
While the objectives include “to encompass gentlemanly accomplishment and scholarship”, Pannick writes: “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’,” citing the Oxford English Dictionary. In other words, he says it is not being used in a sex-specific way.
The analysis is the second to reach the conclusion that women are eligible for membership, following one by Michael Beloff KC in 2022. Beloff was originally commissioned by the club’s general committee to provide a definitive legal opinion on the matter in 2011, when he said the rules did prohibit women joining, before changing his mind in 2022.
A letter sent earlier this month – before Pannick’s analysis, but by the same members who commissioned him – to the club’s chair, trustees and general committee said there had been a refusal to circulate Beloff’s revised 2022 opinion within the club. It points out that Beloff said any litigation on the subject was “likely to provoke an expensive lawsuit”.
The letter, signed by the actor Stephen Fry, MI6 head Moore and about 20 others, urges the club to circulate both Beloff’s 2011 and 2022 opinions, saying: “This would remove the major source of confusion about the legal status of women’s membership that is now rife in the club, causing division and damage.
“Many members would also appreciate advice from the committee on the context of Mr Beloff’s change of mind. In particular, it is important for them to know that, unlike other clubs that exclude women members, there is no explicit provision in the Garrick rules to do this.”
The Garrick Club has been approached for comment.
