1. NAME
The name of the Society shall be the “Drummond and Smith Law Society”
2. FOUNDATION OF SOCIETY
This Constitution shall come into operation on such date the Interim Committee of the Society proclaims the establishment of the Society.
a) On such proclamation the Interim Committee will
i) become the Committee pursuant to the clauses and provisions of this the Constitution with the only exception being Clause 11.
ii) remain the Committee until the first Annual General Meeting pursuant to the clauses and provisions of this Constitution.
b) The Interim Committee may at any time prior to the establishment of the Society make any such By-laws pursuant to Clause 17 to come into operation on the day of proclamation.
2. INTERPRETATION
In this Constitution unless the contrary intention appears:
a) “By-laws” means the by-laws of the Society made pursuant to Clause 17
hereof.
b) “The Executive Committee” means those members of the Society for the time
being holding the respective offices of President, Vice President,
Secretary, Treasurer.
c) “Member” means a member of the Society admitted pursuant to Clause 4(a) but
does not include an Associate of the Society pursuant to Clause 4(c) hereof
d) “The Committee” means the Committee of the Drummond and Smith Law Society pursuant to the provisions of Clause 11 hereof.
e) “The Society” means the Drummond and Smith Law Society.
f) “The Law Library” means the law library at Drummond and
g) “U.N.E” means the
h) “Constitution” means the Constitution of the Society.
i) “Absolute Majority” means a majority of members of the Society rather than merely a majority of members present.
j) "EBL MENTOR" means the Academic Mentor who is in charge of law at Drummond and Smith College, U.N.E.
The Committee shall have the power to interpret the Constitution.
3. OBJECTS
The objects of the Society are:
a) To provide a Society of academic support for its members through a network of current law students, alumni, Fellows, Lecturers and law firms.
b) To create an open community encouraging junior law students to request academic assistance.
c) To establish Drummond and
d) To compliment the substantial sporting standards at Drummond and
e) To utilise the available Drummond and
f) To provide funding for the additional Law Reports and text books resulting in a current and up-to-date Law Library.
g) To provide funding for the general maintenance of the Law Library.
h) To act as a formal body which will hold seminars and workshops for the law students at Drummond and
i) To represent the views and wishes of the law students of Drummond and
j) To promote information on legal subjects by lectures, discussions, books,
correspondence with members of the Society.
k) To seek, receive and disseminate information.
l) To do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of all or
any of the objects set forth in this Clause 3.
4. MEMBERSHIP
a) A person who currently studies law at U.N.E and who currently resides in Drummond and
b) The Committee may confer the status of Life Member on a member, former member, honorary member, associate, former associate or person eligible for Membership who is considered by the Committee to have rendered outstanding service to the Society.
c) The Fellows of Drummond and
c) The Committee may permit a person or group who is not eligible for Membership of the Society to become an Associate of the Society.
d) A person who has studied law and who has resided in Drummond and
e) An Associate or Honorary Member of the Society shall not be entitled to vote in any election or other vote of the Society and shall not be entitled to hold any office of the Society other than as set out hereunder. An Associate or Honorary Member of Society the shall be entitled to receive all notices forwarded to Members of the Society, to attend all meetings of the Society and speak there at and to serve on any Committee of the Society other than the Executive Committee and the Committee.
f) The Committee may at any time and for such reason as in its absolute discretion it thinks appropriate terminate the Associateship or Honorary Membership of any person or group with the Society.
g) The Committee may prescribe a fee in such amount as it deems fit to be paid to the Society as a condition of the grant of the Associateship of the Society. If a fee is so prescribed, payment of such fee shall be a condition precedent to the grant of Associateship of the Society.
h) Every application for Membership or Associateship shall be dealt with by the Committee at the meeting of the Committee next after the date of receipt of such application. If the Committee is satisfied that the applicant is entitled to become a Member or Associate, it shall admit him or her to Membership or Associateship thereof, subject to the provisions of the Constitution.
5. CESSATION OF MEMBERSHIP
a) Any Member may resign from the Society by notice in writing to the Committee, and such resignation shall be effective from the date of the meeting of the Committee next after the receipt of the resignation, unless the resignation is in the meantime withdrawn by the Member.
b) No person shall by reason of his or her having ceased to be a Member, be released from any liability for any subscription or other sums due to the Society.
c) If any Member neglects to pay his annual subscription or the amount from time to time fixed by the Society as the fee payable for a practising certificate of the type held by him or her or any other sums due to it within such time as the Committee either generally or in a particular case determines after such subscription or other sums become due, he or she shall cease to be a Member.
d) Upon late payment of any amounts referred to in paragraph (c) hereof the Committee may re-admit a Member to the Society.
6. MEMBERSHIP FEES AND LEVIES
a) All Members and Associates shall be required to pay such annual subscription and levies to the Society as may be determined by the Committee from time to time.
b) Annual subscriptions shall become due and payable on the first day of April in each and every year.
c) Where an applicant is admitted to Membership or Associateship after 1 April in any year and before the following 31 March, the applicant shall pay an amount that bears to the annual subscription the same proportion as the number of months in the period between the date of admission and the following 31 March bears to 12.
7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
a) A General Meeting of the Society (in this Constitution referred to as the “Annual
General Meeting”) shall be convened during the month of November in each year.
b) If for any reason it is found impracticable to convene the Annual General
Meeting during that month, it shall be held as soon as possible thereafter.
c) At least fourteen (14) days notice, specifying the place, the date and the hour of the Annual General Meeting, shall be given to all Members.
d) The business of the Annual General Meeting shall be:
(i) To receive the Annual Report and Statement of Account referred to in Clause 16 hereof.
(ii) To elect the Committee for the ensuing year.
(iii) To appoint an Auditor who shall not be a Member of the Society.
(iv) To transact such other business, notice of which has been given in the notice calling the meeting.
8.
a) The Committee may, whenever it thinks fit, convene a Special General Meeting of the Society.
b) Fourteen (14) days notice at least, specifying the place, the date and the hour and the business to be conducted at a Special General Meeting shall be given to all Members of the Society.
9.
a) The Committee shall, upon the requisition in writing of not less than ten (10) members, convene a Special General Meeting.
b) Any such requisition shall specify the object of the meeting required and shall be signed by the Members making the same and shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Society and may consist of several documents in like form, each signed by one or more of the requisitionists.
c) The meeting must be convened for the purposes specified in the requisition and, if convened otherwise than by the Committee, for those purposes only.
d) If, in any case, the Committee fails to convene a Special General Meeting to be held within one (1) month after such deposit, the requisitionists (or any ten (10) of them) may themselves, subject to compliance by them with Clause 8(b) hereof, convene a meeting to be held within two (2) months after such deposit.
10. PROCEEDINGS AT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
a) (i) A absolute majority of the Committee personally present shall be a quorum for an Annual General Meeting to:
(1) Discuss general business of the Society;
(2) receive any report of the Committee or any statement by the
Treasurer; and
(3) adjourn the meeting.
(ii) No business shall be transacted at any general meeting unless the requisite quorum be present at the commencement of the business.
b) If, within half an hour of the time appointed for the meeting, a quorum is not present, a meeting convened upon a requisition of Members shall be dissolved, and any meeting not so convened shall stand adjourned until the same day of the next week at the same time and place or until such other later day and time and place as the Committee may determine and if at the adjourned meeting a quorum is not present within half an hour of the time appointed for the meeting the Members present shall constitute a quorum. The Committee shall give notice to all Members of any determination made by it pursuant to this sub-clause and shall give to all Members at least seven (7) days notice of the meeting referred to in such determination.
c) The President, or in his or her absence, the Vice-President, shall be entitled to take the chair at every general meeting and if neither the President nor the Vice-President is present within fifteen (15) minutes after the time appointed for the holding of the meeting, the Members present shall choose one of their number to be Chairman.
d) At any Annual General Meeting a resolution put to the vote of the meeting shall be decided on a show of hands unless a poll is (before or on the declaration of the result of the show of hands) demanded, either by the Chairman or by at least three Members present.
e) Unless a poll is so demanded a declaration by the Chairman that a resolution has on a show of hands been carried unanimously or carried by a particular majority or lost or not carried by a particular majority and an entry being made to that effect in the book containing the Minutes of the proceedings of the Society, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact without proof of the number or proportion of votes recorded in favour of or against the resolution.
f) In the case of an equality of votes on a show of hands or on a poll, the Chairman of the meeting at which the show of hands takes place, or at which the poll is demanded, shall be entitled to a second or casting vote.
g) At any general meeting of the Society each Member present at the meeting shall have one (1) vote.
h) No Member shall be entitled to vote at any general meeting unless his or her annual subscription and all other sums presently payable by him or her to the Society have been paid.
i) No objection shall be raised to the qualification of any voter except at the meeting or adjourned meeting at which the vote objected to is given or tendered, and every vote not disallowed at a meeting shall be allowed for all purposes. Any such objections made in due time shall be referred to the Chairman of the meeting and his or her decision shall be final and conclusive.
j) The Chairman of any general meeting may, with the consent of the meeting, adjourn the same from time to time and from place to place, but no business shall be transacted for any adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place.
k) An Associate Member is not entitled to vote.
11. THE COMMITTEE
a) The management of the affairs of the Society shall be vested in the Committee which shall consist of:
(i) the President;
(ii) a Vice-President;
(iii) a Secretary;
(iv) a Treasurer;
(v) a Social Officer;
(vi) a Funding and Marketing Officer;
(vii) a First Year Representative; and
(viii) the EBL Mentor at Drummond and
b)
(i) All members of the Committee shall retire annually at a date to be determined by the out-going Committee and each retiring Member shall be eligible for re-election.
(ii) No Member shall be eligible to hold the office of President for more than three (3) consecutive terms.
c) The Committee shall have power at any time and from time to time to appoint any Member to be a Member of the Committee to fill a vacancy. Any Member so appointed shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting.
d) The Society may resolve to remove any Member of the Committee before the expiration of his or her period of office and may resolve to appoint another Member in his stead. A Member so appointed shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting.
e) A Member of the Committee shall be deemed to have vacated his office if he or
she:
(i) becomes of unsound mind or a person whose person or estate is liable to be dealt with in any way under the law relating to mental health;
(ii) resigns his or her office by notice in writing to the Committee;
(iii) for more than three (3) months is absent without permission of the Committee from meetings of the Council held during that period; or
(iv) ceases to be a Member of the Society.
12. ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF COMITTEE
a) The results of the election of the Committee shall be announced at the Annual General Meeting.
b) Candidates for Membership of the Committee shall be proposed and seconded in writing by Members and the nomination forms shall not be valid unless they bear the written assent of the candidates to their nomination.
c) The closing of nominations for election to the Committee, the manner of conducting elections and the determination of the results thereof and any other matters relating to such elections shall be provided for in the by-laws. Such by-laws shall make provision for postal voting and for voting by use of the service or delivery of documents through recognised Document Exchanges.
13. POWER AND DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEE
a) The Committee shall have the sole management of the Society and of the affairs and concerns and the income and property thereof for the purposes and benefit of the Society and may exercise all powers conferred by this Constitution on the Society and do all such acts and things as are directed or authorised to be done by this Constitution by the Constitution.
b) The Committee shall convene no less than once a month.
b) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution either the President or the Committee may establish such Sub-Committees as he, she or it deems desirable from time to time and may delegate any of its power to such Sub-Committees which may consist of one or more Members.
c) The Committee may engage all such officers and servants as it may consider necessary and may regulate their duties.
d) (i) The Committee shall cause Minutes to be made:
(1) of all appointments of officers;
(2) of all proceedings at all meetings of the Society and of the Committee.
(ii) Such Minutes shall be signed by the Chairman of the meeting at the time when the meeting was held or by the Chairman of the next succeeding meeting.
