Old Badminton Rules That No Longer Exist: 6 Vanished Laws

Last checked: August 2026 · Written by the player-led team at Badminton House

Badminton's law book did not move from Victorian rules to today's game in one rewrite. Changes arrived separately, sometimes reversing an earlier decision. That is why two experienced club players can remember different rules and both be describing what they were once taught.

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1. The association's waisted court lost the 1901 vote

The early association court narrowed toward the net instead of keeping parallel sidelines. At the 1901 Badminton Association meeting, members adopted a rectangular-court proposal by 23 votes to 2. The current court remains rectangular, with separate singles and doubles sidelines rather than an hourglass waist.

The contemporary 1901 meeting report and revised laws record the proposal and vote. Standardization did not make every local booklet vanish immediately: a 1914 Bath Badminton Club publication still described its own waisted construction. That is why a surviving diagram must be identified by governing body before it is called the rule of its era.

What applies now: use the rectangular court in the current BWF diagram. The inner sidelines are singles boundaries and the outer sidelines are doubles boundaries. Do not recreate a narrow net area from an old club sketch.

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2. Frame, shaft and handle contacts were faults until 1963

The 1949 revision made it a fault when the shuttle was struck by the racket frame, shaft or handle. The 1962 law still contained that rule; the 1963 revision removed it. A shuttle touching the frame is therefore not automatically dead under the current Laws.

The archival law book sometimes labelled “1950” actually says the rules were subsequently revised in 1949. That publication-versus-revision distinction matters. “Wood shot” is a useful nickname, but the old text specifically listed frame, shaft and handle.

What applies now: contact outside the strings is not a fault for that fact alone. A caught or slung shuttle, or two successive hits by the same player, can still be a fault. Do not turn the 1963 reversal into a claim that every awkward frame sequence is legal.

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3. A service net graze stopped being an automatic let in 1962

Under the 1949-revised law cited here, an otherwise good service that touched the net could be replayed as a let. The 1962 revision said a service or rally touching and passing over the net was not invalidated. That ended the automatic “net serve, take it again” response.

The important words are touching and passing over. A shuttle that clips the tape and still crosses into the correct receiving court is different from one that fails to cross, is caught on or in the net, or lands outside. The remaining service and fault laws still decide the rally.

What applies now: do not call a let merely because the service grazed the tape. Play continues when the serve is otherwise legal and lands in. Use our badminton let-rules guide for the current events that actually require a replay.

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4. A complete service whiff became a fault in 1988

The 1977 rulebook expressly said that completely missing the shuttle during service was not a fault. New IBF Laws took effect on 1 January 1988 and made an attempted-service miss a fault. The often-repeated 1992 date does not match the official change notice.

The September 1987 issue of the official federation publication printed the new law and its 1 January 1988 effective date. A player could no longer begin the service action, swing past the shuttle and simply reset without consequence.

What applies now: once the service is attempted, missing the shuttle is a fault. This is not the same as a player standing ready and deciding not to begin the service action.

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5. Setting and the second doubles service hand ended in 2006

Under the old service-only system, only the serving side scored. Tied games could use “setting,” adding a small finishing target, and doubles normally gave both partners a service hand during the side's innings. At the IBF AGM on 6 May 2006, members adopted 3×21 rally scoring; the resulting Laws removed both structures.

The phrase “second service” causes confusion. It did not mean two attempts at one delivery as in tennis. It meant the second partner's turn to serve before service passed to the opponents, subject to the old sequence. Under rally scoring, the side that wins a rally scores; when the receiving side wins, it gains the next service immediately.

What applies now: for matches governed by BWF's main Laws, 3×21 remains current through 3 January 2027 and the approved 3×15 system takes effect on 4 January 2027. Member-association or event regulations may use other authorized formats during the transition, so check the controlling rules. Read our old 15-point scoring and setting guide for a worked historical example.

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6. Fixed service height replaced the waist and racket-angle tests

The older service law required shuttle contact below the server's waist and the racket shaft to point downward. BWF members approved a fixed-height approach in May 2018, the Council formally adopted it in November, and specified BWF tournament implementation followed in 2019.

The BWF 2018 annual report preserves that staged history. Calling it simply “the 2018 rule” hides the difference between testing, membership approval, formal adoption and competition rollout.

What applies now: in the main service law, the whole shuttle must be below 1.15 metres from the court surface at the instant it is hit. Specified para-badminton provisions differ. Our 1.15 m badminton service-height guide explains the current test without the historical detour.

For the complete current baseline, use our dated badminton rules and scoring guide. These six vanished laws explain why some arguments keep returning even after the wording has moved on.