[Ansteorra] Membership and what counts
Burke McCrory
burkemc at cox.net
Wed Jan 9 18:45:53 PST 2008
A little background on this discussion is in order I think.
In early 1996 the BOD and Ansteorra entered into an experiment on how
to count memberships for groups. We were going through some hard
times and a number of groups were in danger of folding. The BOD and
the Society Seneschal gave Ansteorra permission (through a variance)
to count all members in a group for purposes of minimums. We did
this for 4 years until 2000 when the variance expired. We then went
back to the old system and I filed a report with the Society
Seneschal concerning our experiences. I know that the BOD reviewed
this and talked about it on several occasions. We got direct
statements from BOD members and the Society Seneschal that all
memberships were now valid for counting in 2001. This was during the
time that Sir Rohdri was on the BOD I think. The only question that
the BOD had was did they need to increase the minimum numbers for
groups. As has been posted here they did take this up at a later BOD
meeting (sometimes they move very slowly) in 2004 and affirmed the
change in counting but did not move to increase or decrease the
required numbers. We have been counting all memberships for purposes
of minimums for a number of years so unless there has been a formal
change since 2004 the ruling from the BOD still stands.
One more point, Society Law (ie Corpora, etc.) supersedes Kingdom Law
automatically. While we can make things more restrictive in some
cases (like requiring that groups have more officers or greater
membership counts) we can not countermand Society Law. Preventing
groups of members from counting would not be considered more
restrictive but would be considered countermanding. This works the
same way for Mundane Law and the SCA, if the mundane law is changed
then any conflict with the society law is automatically changed or
rendered invalid, whether we publish a change or not. Part of the
Kingdom Seneschal's job is to be aware of Society Law changes and
prepare reports for the Crown concerning their impact and any changes
that might be required.
Burke
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