• Proposed changes to the Society's Bye-laws

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  • Context

    The Society's Council would like to know your views on the proposed changes set out in this section. All the changes are based on external legal and governance advice.

    You can download the Society's current Bye-laws and Charter from the Resources page.

    We have set out the proposed changes in logical groups. The proposals are summarised in plain English rather than legal text: when we have considered your feedback and made final decisions on the proposed changes, our solicitors will draft the formal documents to put you at the AGM.

    At the very bottom of this page, you can give feedback and ask questions.

  • General

    1. Insert general provisions at the beginning of the Bye-Laws including definitions and confirming how amendments are made (this will link to the provisions of the Charter)
    2. Insert general communications provisions setting out how the Society communicates with the Fellows (this will be based on modern good practice text)
    3. Clarify the role of Council and of Fellows at General Meetings in clause 3 of the current Bye-laws. The sentence "The control of the affairs of the Society shall rest with the General Meeting of Fellows" - is now old-fashioned text which no longer aligns with the Trustees' role and legal duties in a modern charity, in which the Fellows delegate responsibility to Council to run the Society from day to day. Our solicitors will propose text which preserves Fellows' traditional powers, including to choose who is on Council, to approve or reject any changes to the governing documents, to approve or reject changes to subscriptions.

  • Council

    1. As with all charities, a substantial proportion of the Bye-laws cover how the trustees are chosen and what their powers and duties are. To make this easier to read, we have sub-divided it into logical goups.
    2. Please note that a "member of Council" and "a trustee" are one and the same. Everyone on Council is a trustee of the Society, and there are no trustees of the Society who are not on Council.,

  • Fellows

    1. The other substantial proportion of the Bye-laws covers the Society's membership, ie the Fellows. This includes how Fellows can hold Council to account (eg through meetings), Fellows' rights and privileges, and how Fellowship can be terminated. As with Council, to make this easier to read, we have sub-divided it into logical goups.

  • Contact us

    Council welcomes your feedback and questions

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