[Ansteorra] Corpora vs kingdom law

[Tim McDaniel]

On Thu, 5 Jul 2012, Salvador Ordo_ez
<salvadorthespaniard at gmail.com> wrote:
> Corpora says shires have 5 members. Law says they have 12 paid
> members, 5 must be sustaining.
>
> Does kingdom take precedence because it is the more stringent
> requirement, still meeting corpora?

That's not precisely correct.  Corpora takes precedence, because
there's a hierarchy of law listed in one of the governing documents
and it wins over kingdom law.  HOWEVER, Corpora at
http://www.sca.org/docs/pdf/govdocs.pdf (just downloaded) allows for
kingdom stringency:

     A branch or contiguous group of branches may petition for baronial
     or provincial status at the members' option, subject to the
     approval of the Crown and (if applicable) the Coronet, if the
     resulting entity meets the requirements listed below

So Corpora expressly provides for the king and queen vetoing their
advancement even if the Corpora requirements are met.  For lower level
branches, it's even looser:

     Below baronial/provincial level, branch establishment proceeds
     according to kingdom law and custom, subject to the Society
     Seneschal's review and the requirements set forth below. These
     branches may adopt designations as provided for by the laws and
     customs of their kingdoms and as established in this
     document. Minimum requirements include

yadda yadda.

HOWEVER, also note that Corpora says

     E. Reservations to the Board

     The Board specifically reserves to itself the following functions
     with respect to branches of the Society:
     ....
     * To change the status of any branch to reflect its current
       qualifications.
     * To dissolve a branch should it fail to continue to meet the
       qualifications for a branch of any level, or for other just
       cause, stated in writing to the affected people.
     ...

So as for Ansteorran Kingdom Law Article VIII section 8
<http://seneschal.ansteorra.org/forms/Kingdom_Law_2012.pdf>:

     A. New groups seeking establishment and existing branches seeking
        advancement must have a total membership 50% greater than the
        required minimum of the applied for branch type.

Corpora says that that's entirely in Ansteorra's bailiwick: it just
says that the king and queen may choose not to forward it to the
Board.

     B. Once new or advanced status is granted, the branch must
        maintain a total membership 50% greater than the required
        minimum of the branch type for a probationary period of one
        year. If total membership falls below this value for three
        consecutive months, the probationary period will be extended by
        three months.

That's ... not ... well written.  Ansteorra on its own can't do jack
shit to a branch once it's been sent to the Board.

HOWEVER!  if the king and queen petitioned the Board to dissolve such
branches, especially if below baronial/provincial status, I strongly
the Board would approve unless there was a major fuss from the
affected branch.

Danyll de Lincoln
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com