Rafferty’s rules, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Rafferty’s rules n.

also O’Rafferty rules, Rafferty rules

[despite use of capital ‘R’, which implies a proper name, the term comes f. mispron. of SE refractory; note Seal, The Lingo (1999): ‘rafferty’s rules, meaning no rules at all, seems to be an Australianization of a British dialect term for confusion or mess, raff or raffety’]

1. (Aus./N.Z.) no rules whatsoever, anything goes; note ad hoc adj. rafferty in cit. 1927.

1906		Eve. Mail (Fremantle, WA) 18 June 3/4: Some of the players thinking O'Rafferty rules the correct one for the game, made it fast from the start.
1911		Indep. (Footscray, VIC.) 15 July 3/4: The umpire lost all control of the game, and it became a case of Rafferty’s rules with the players.
1918		A. Hutton letter in Phillips, Boyack & Malone Great Adventure (1988) 17 Mar. 237: You should have seen what a mess we made of it. Rafferty Rules was the order of the day and our company which was once the best in camp were all over the place.
1920		Portland Guardian (Vic.) 26 Feb. 3/1: Peter v. Adam — Rafferty’s Rules [...] Some amusing evidence in what appeared to be a ‘rough and tumble mix up’ was heard at Portland Police Court.
1927		A.R.D. Fairburn letter 24 Jan. in Edmond Letters (1981) 18: I have a water colour here [...] It’s a bit rafferty though, and I may wait and do a decent one.
1928		Register (Adelaide) 19 Sept. 8/4: ‘The Seamen’s Union,’ the witness declared, ’has no rules — only Rafferty’s Rules’.
1935		Sun. Times (Perth) 15 Sept. 7/5: Indeed, it has been a case of ‘afferty’s Rules’.
1940		Argus (Melbourne) 28 Aug. 4/7: At first the opponent using brute force and Rafferty’s rules is on top.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 58: Rafferty rules, no rules at all, applied to any system, organisation or contest run in slip-shod fashion.
1954		Argus (Mwelbourne) 25 Feb. 0/5: Rafferty’s rules prevailed among the many thirsty people who waited.
1961		L.F. Crisp Ben Chifley: Biography 218: But I know Rafferty’s rules, too. I graduated in the Labour Movement in Sydney, where there are no beg pardons.
1972		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 114: raffertys rules ‘no rules at all’.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 98: A bloke who doesn’t know what he’s about doesn’t know if he’s Arthur or Martha. [...] Such people often get things arse about face and anything they’re involved in is very muddled and runs on Rafferty’s Rules.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 121: ‘[Prison] is Rafferty’s rules, not Queensberry’s’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 10 June 4: Rafferty’s rules: No rules (Aus).
2001		T. O’Farrell Behind Enemy Lines 196: In stark contrast to the controls placed over weapons and ammunition these days, Rafferty’s Rules prevailed in Vietnam.

2. in attrib. use of sense 1.

1984

P. Corris ‘Marriages Are Made in Heaven’ in Heroin Annie [e-book] I could hear his harsh breathing and feel his agitation; the Rafferty’s rules style of the real hard men were becoming clear to him.