declining/resigning awards

[Aodhan Ite an Fhithich]

Dia duit!

 [Replying to a message of PTM2792 at UTARLG.UTA.EDU to All]

Greetings to Viscount Galen and the subscribers to this list, with appologies
for the delay in my reply to this thread.

 P> "Diarmuit Ui Dhuinn asks:

 P> "'one wonders what the protocol would be for declining such an award?

 P> "'For that matter, one wonders what the protocol would be for declining 
 P> an award because the recipient did not actually feel that they
 P> deserved  it would be?'

 P> "Diarmuit, *I* don't know the answer to these questions. I would
 P> suppose a Herald would know the correct procedure for declining an
 P> award, if  there is such a beast (not the Herald, the *procedure*). 
 P> :-)

Let me preface my remarks by stating that I am the current (and a past) holder
of the office of Zodiacus Herald, which office is responsible for precedence
matters in Ansteorra.  While my principal duties involve maintaining the
Kingdom's Roll of Precedence, I am also responisble for related education.

As Sir Galen notes in his post, the best procedure is to politely decline the
proffered award.  The Crown, however, may not wish to let you decline.  In
this case, rather than engage in a test of wills with the Crown, which could
embarrass one or both of you, it is best to graciously accept the award and
resign it later.

Before resigning, however, you may want to discuss the award with people who's
opinions you trust.  You may be the only one who thinks you don't deserve it.

Having decided to resign an award, you should write a letter to that effect to
the Crown, with a copy to this office.  Upon receipt of this letter, your
resignation will be noted in the RoP database and the letter filed.

Note that, in the case of a peerage, the resignation letter should be
addressed to the Board of Directors as well as the Crown.

 P> "Otherwise, I suppose the person could just not respond if their name's 
 P> called 

I would advise againt this.  For one, it's somewhat dishonest.  Also, you
generally don't know why you are being called into Court and your "fear" that
you are about to recieve an unwanted award may be unfounded.

 P> There is a procedure for resigning a peerage.  The peer must resign _in
 P> writing_, with copies sent to the Crown, the Board of Directors, and 
 P> Principle of the Order (if applicable). 

Note that Ansteorra does not have Principals for any of the Kingdom Orders
(however, the ruling Baron/ess is usually considered to be the Principal of
their Barony's Order).

 P> It is _not_ necessary that 
 P> this be done in a public ceremony; also, it isn't something the Crown 
 P> can refuse to accept -- on those occasions when the Crown refused to 
 P> accept resignations from the peerage, it has been a face-saving 
 P> measure for someone who didn't really want to resign.

As a clarification, in those cases the resignation was made in public, so the
Crown could refuse to accept it, and *not* in writing to the Board, which the
Crown *cannot* refuse to accept.

Feicfidh me' ari's thu',

Aodhan, Zodiacus
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Baron Aodhan Ite an Fhithich    aodhan at dobharchu.org
Master of the Laurel            Lough na Dobharchu' BBS  1-713-338-2570
Dobharchu' Herald               "Your Information Roman Road"
mka David H. Brummel            1:106/22  180:11/22  762:2200/2
SCA Member 02245                Barony of Loch Soilleir, Ansteorra
http://www.phoenix.net/~dbrummel
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