Editing Leg before wicket (section)

===Origins===
The earliest known written version of the Laws of Cricket, dating from 1744,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/239757.html| title = A brief history of cricket| publisher = ESPNCricinfo| access-date = 4 March 2012}}</ref> does not include an lbw rule. At the time, batters in English cricket used curved bats, which made it unlikely that they would be able to stand directly in front of the wickets. However, a clause in the 1744 laws gave umpires the power to take action if the batter was "standing unfair to strike".<ref name=B241>Brodribb, p. 241.</ref> Cricket bats were modified to become straighter over the following years, allowing batters to stand closer to the wickets. Subsequently, some players deliberately began to obstruct the ball from hitting the wickets. Such tactics were criticised by writers and a revision of the laws in 1774 ruled that the batter was out if he deliberately stopped the ball from hitting the wicket with his leg.<ref name=B241/> However, critics noted that the umpires were left the difficult task of interpreting the intentions of batters.<ref name=B242>Brodribb, p. 242.</ref> The 1788 version of the laws no longer required the umpires to take account of the batter's intent; now a batter was lbw if he stopped a ball that "pitch[ed] straight". Further clarification of the law came in 1823, when a condition was added that "the ball must be delivered in a straight line to the wicket".<ref name=B242/> The ambiguity of the wording was highlighted when two prominent umpires disagreed over whether the ball had to travel in a straight line from the bowler to the wicket, or between the wickets at either end of the pitch. In 1839 the MCC, by then responsible for drafting the Laws of Cricket, endorsed the latter interpretation and ruled the batter out lbw if the ball pitched in between the wickets and would have hit the stumps.{{refn|According to the 1839 law, "...&nbsp;if with any part of his person he stops the ball, which in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's end shall have been delivered in a straight line from it to the striker's wicket and would have hit it".<ref name=B242/>|group=notes}}<ref name=B242/>