no hard and fast rules

No rules or guidelines that are binding, rigidly adhered to, and/or clearly defined. The manager has no hard and fast rules, so he has no way of keeping his employees in line. Unfortunately, the drug is so still so new that there aren't really any hard and fast rules about proper dosage.

See also: and, fast, hard, no, rule

See also:

hard and fast
play by (one's) rules
play by somebody's rules
according to Hoyle
make (something) up as (one) goes (along)
Mr Clean
Mr. Clean
amount to a hill of beans
bright-line rule
stick to the letter of the law

References in periodicals archive

As we have seen, vernacular names can be misleading, and no hard and fast rules apply.

A tree by any other name ...

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