Law 1 Name
The Society shall be called THE EDINBURGH GEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY.
This name is registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity
Regulator as Scottish Charity number SC 008011
Law 2 Object
The
objectives of the Society shall be the stimulation and encouragement of public
interest in geology and the advancement of geological knowledge by such means
as public lectures, symposia, conferences, the reading and discussion of original
papers, excursions, exhibitions, the maintenance of a geological library, the
publication of the Scottish Journal of Geology jointly with the Geological Society
of Glasgow, and the production of any other geological publications which may
be considered desirable.
Law 3 Membership
3.1 The Society shall
consist of members in the following categories: Honorary Fellow, Corresponding
Fellow, Distinguished Fellow, Ordinary Fellow, Family Fellow, Senior Fellow, Life
Fellow, Junior Associate and Glasgow Associate.
3.2 Honorary, Corresponding
and Distinguished Fellows
(a) The Society may elect persons as Honorary
Fellows in recognition of merit or achievement in the science of geology or for
service to the Society.
(b) The Society may elect as Corresponding Fellows
persons of scientific merit or achievement resident outside the United Kingdom
who by membership of the Society may be enabled or assisted to extend and foster
links between the Society and the science of geology abroad.
(c) The Society
may elect as a Distinguished Fellow any Fellow of the Society in recognition of
service to the Society.
(d) The number of Honorary Fellows shall normally
be limited to fifteen, Corresponding Fellows to twenty and Distinguished Fellows
to ten.
(e) Honorary, Corresponding and Distinguished Fellows shall be
elected by a majority of votes at any Ordinary Meeting of the Society upon the
recommendation of the Council, intimated at the previous Ordinary Meeting. They
shall not be required to make any payments to the funds of the Society. Honorary
and Corresponding Fellows shall have no voice in the management of its affairs.
(f) Honorary, Corresponding and Distinguished Fellows shall receive gratuitously
a copy of the Scottish Journal of Geology as published during the period of their
membership, including any published during the Session, defined in Law 8, of their
election.
(g) Honorary, Corresponding and Distinguished Fellows shall,
on election, receive without charge the Society's Diploma.
3.3 Ordinary
Fellows
(a) Election of a candidate for admission into the Society as an
Ordinary Fellow shall be by approval by the Council of a written application.
An application shall be supported either by the recommendation of three Distinguished,
Ordinary, Life, Senior or Family Fellows or by written statement of the candidate
of his/her interests in geology. Elections shall be announced by the Secretary
on a Meeting billet.
(b) No one elected an Ordinary Fellow shall exercise
any privilege as such until his/her subscription, defined in Law 8, shall have
been paid. No Ordinary Fellow shall be entitled to vote at any Meeting if in arrears
with his/her subscription.
(c) Each Ordinary Fellow who is not in arrears
with his/her subscription shall be entitled to receive gratuitously a copy of
the Scottish Journal of Geology as published during the period of his/her membership,
including any published during the Session of his/her election.
3.4
Family Fellows
(a) Joint Fellowship is available to an Ordinary Fellow
and one member of his/her family, (who, being admitted, shall be termed a Family
Fellow) residing at the same household. Each individual shall enjoy the rights
of an Ordinary Fellow except that the Family Fellow shall not receive gratuitously
the Scottish Journal of Geology. No one elected a Family Fellow shall exercise
any privilege as such until his/her subscription, defined in Law 8, shall have
been paid. No Family Fellow shall be entitled to vote at any Meeting if in arrears
with his/her subscription.
(b) The procedure for election of Family Fellows
shall be the same as for Ordinary Fellows and elections shall be announced by
the Secretary on a Meeting billet.
(c) On termination of his/her special
qualification for Joint Fellowship, a Family Fellow shall remain in this category
of membership during the remainder of the current Session. Thereafter he/she may
opt to remain a Family Fellow or become an Ordinary Fellow on intimation to the
Secretary.
3.5 Senior Fellows
Ordinary Fellows of one or more
years membership who have attained the age of 60 may in their own option
become Senior Fellows by exhibition of evidence of age to the Secretary, the change
in status of their membership to have effect from the beginning of the Session
in which they thereby claim Senior Fellowship. Such Fellows shall enjoy all the
rights of Ordinary Fellows except that they shall not receive gratuitously the
Scottish Journal of Geology. No Senior Fellow shall exercise any privilege as
such or be entitled to vote at any Meeting if in arrears with his/her subscription.
3.6 Life Fellows
(a) Any Ordinary Fellow, Senior Fellow or Family
Fellow, not in arrears with his/her subscription, may at any time become a Life
Fellow by compounding for all future annual subscriptions with a single payment,
hereinafter referred to as a Composition Fee, of fifty times the ordinary subscription
current at the date of composition. The Composition Fee shall be reduced by one
fiftieth for each ordinary subscription paid previously, and by one hundredth
for each half subscription paid as a Senior Fellow or Family Fellow.
(b)
Life Fellows shall enjoy all the rights of Ordinary Fellows.
3.7 Associates
(a) Junior Associates: Persons under the age of 23 years at the beginning
of the Session of their admission or undertaking full-time education during the
Session of their admission may be admitted as Junior Associates.
(b) Glasgow
Associates: Ordinary Members of the Geological Society of Glasgow may be admitted
as Glasgow Associates.
(c) The procedure for election of Associates, of
whichever category, shall be the same as for Ordinary Fellows and elections shall
be announced by the Secretary on a Meeting billet.
(d) Members admitted
to the Society as Associates, of whichever category, shall not have any voice
in the management of the Societys affairs nor receive gratuitously the Scottish
Journal of Geology.
(e) On the termination of his/her special qualification
for Associate membership an Associate shall remain an Associate member during
the remainder of the current Session; continuation of his/her membership thereafter
shall be by transference to another class of membership in terms of this law.
Law
4 Obligation of Members
All members, by their admission, shall be deemed
to assent to the Laws of the Society, and shall be bound thereby so long as they
remain members of the Society.
Law 5 Dividends and Bonuses
No
member shall at any time receive in money any dividend, gift, division, or bonus,
from the funds of the Society.
Law 6 Resignation and Re-election of Members
6.1 All notices of resignation shall be in writing and addressed to the
Membership Secretary. From the date of resignation a member shall lose all associated
rights of membership. Notwithstanding resignation, all contributions and arrears
of subscription at the time of resignation remain due to the Society, and the
member shall return all books and other property belonging to the Society, borrowed
by him/her, and shall make full compensation for the same if lost or damaged.
6.2 It shall be competent for the Society to re-elect any Member who may
have resigned, and who shall be desirous of rejoining the Society.
Law
7 Expulsion of Members
7.1 Any Member acting contrary to the Laws of the
Society, or otherwise conducting him/herself at variance with the objectives of
the Society or in such a way as to impede their achievement, may be reported by
the Council to any Ordinary Meeting of the Society, and if a majority of the next
Ordinary Meeting approve, such Member shall be expelled from the Society.
7.2
In applying this Law the Council and the Society shall follow the Code of Procedure
approved by the Society at a Special Meeting held on 17th March 1982, and given
in the Appendix to these Laws.
Law 8 Subscriptions of Members
8.1
The Session or subscription year shall be the period of twelve months beginning
on 1st October each year.
8.2 The ordinary subscription to the funds of
the Society for each Session shall be such sum as may be fixed from time to time
by resolution of a Special Meeting of the Society on a motion by the Council.
8.3 (a) For each Session or part Session of membership every member other than
Honorary, Corresponding, Distinguished and Life Fellows shall pay a subscription
to the funds of the Society.
(b) The subscriptions payable by Ordinary
Fellows shall be the ordinary subscription aforesaid.
The subscription payable
by Family Fellows, Senior Fellows and Glasgow Associates shall be one half of
the ordinary subscription. The subscription payable by Junior Associates shall
be one fifth of the ordinary subscription.
(c) For the Session of admission
to membership of the Society a members subscription shall be payable on
admission and, for subsequent Sessions for any part of which a member shall continue
in membership, on 1st October of each Session. In the event of a member failing
to pay his/her subscription within two months of his/her admission to membership,
the Council may declare his/her election void.
8.4 In the event of a Members
subscription remaining unpaid for the period of six months from the 1st October
in each Session, the Member defaulting shall, if the Council so determine, cease
to be a Member of the Society.
Law 9 The Council and Office-Bearers
9.1
The affairs of the Society shall be conducted by an elected Council composed of
the Council Office-Bearers and up to six Ordinary Members of Council.
9.2
The Society shall have the following Council Office-Bearers: President, two Vice-Presidents,
Secretary, Treasurer, Lectures Secretary, Excursions Secretary, Membership Secretary,
Librarian and Archivist, two Scientific Editors, Proceedings Editor, and Publications
Sales Officer.
9.3 One or more Assistant Secretaries with particular responsibilities
may be nominated as Office-Bearers by the Council, to assist the Secretary in
the administration of the Societys affairs in ways deemed necessary by the
Council.
9.4 All Office-Bearers shall be honorary and entitled to no remuneration
for their services.
Law 10 Election of Office-Bearers and Ordinary
Members of Council
10.1 Elections of Ordinary Members of Council and all
Office-Bearers shall be made annually at the Annual General Meeting. The period
between two consecutive Annual General Meetings shall be termed a "Year".
10.2
The Council Office-Bearers and Ordinary Members of Council shall be elected from
among the Distinguished Fellows, Ordinary Fellows, Family Fellows, Senior Fellows
and Life Fellows.
10.3 The President and the Vice-Presidents shall hold
office for not more than two consecutive years at a time but shall otherwise be
eligible for election to other offices. The two Vice-Presidents shall normally
be newly elected to their respective offices in alternate years.
10.4 The
Ordinary Members of Council shall hold office for not more than three consecutive
years at a time, but shall otherwise be eligible for election to other offices.
10.5 All other Office-Bearers shall be eligible for re-election.
10.6
Vacancies arising in the Council or any office during the course of a Year may
be filled by the Council for the remainder of such Year, and holders of such interim
appointments shall in all cases be eligible for re-election.
Law 11 Duties
of Office-Bearers
11.1 President and Vice-Presidents
(a) The President,
or in his/her absence one of the Vice-Presidents, shall be Chairman of the Council,
and of all Meetings of the Society. In their absence any Distinguished, Ordinary,
Senior, Life or Family Fellow may be voted into the Chair. The Chairman shall
have both a deliberative and a casting vote.
(b) The President shall be
an ex-officio member of all Committees.
(c) During the period of his/her
office the President shall be invited to deliver a Presidential Address at a Meeting
of the Society.
11.2 Secretary
(a) The Secretary shall record
in the Minute Books the Proceedings of all Meetings of the Society and Council,
shall conduct the Societys correspondence, and shall give intimation of
all Meetings.
(b) The Secretary shall normally act as Convenor of the Clough
Memorial Committee and the Planning Committee, and shall be an ex-officio member
of all other committees.
11.3 Treasurer and Independent Examiner
(a)
The Treasurer shall receive and pay all moneys for the Society, and shall render
to the Society annually at the Annual General Meeting an account of his/her intromissions,
which account shall be balanced as on the 30th September in each Session. The
annual accounts shall be examined by a suitably qualified independent examiner.
(b) All payments out of the Societys bank account shall be signed
by the Treasurer and countersigned by either the President or Secretary.
(c)
The Treasurer shall be advised by the Finance Committee whose convener shall be
appointed by Council from among its Members. The Treasurer shall be an ex-officio
member of the Finance Committee and of all other Committees.
11.4 Assistant
Secretaries
Assistant Secretaries shall assist the Secretary in whatever
ways the Council considers desirable.
11.5 Lectures Secretary
The
Lectures Secretary shall be responsible for arranging public lectures of the Society.
11.6 Excursions Secretary
The Excursions Secretary shall act as convenor
of the Excursions Committee and shall be responsible for arranging excursions
of the Society in terms of Law 14.
11.7 Membership Secretary
The
Membership Secretary shall be responsible for the membership records and the Roll
of the Society and shall intimate to Council all applications for membership.
11.8 Librarian and Archivist
The Librarian and Archivist shall
have custody of the Society's Library and of the Societys Archive so far
as they are not in the keeping of the Librarian of the University of Edinburgh.
He/she shall act as liaison officer between the Society and the Librarian of the
University of Edinburgh during the time that the University has charge of the
Society's Library and Archives.
11.9 Scientific Editors
The Scientific
Editors shall be responsible as members of the Editorial Board jointly with representatives
of the Geological Society of Glasgow for the managing, editing and publication
of the Scottish Journal of Geology in terms of the Minute of Agreement and the
Publishing Agreement aftermentioned.
11.10 Proceedings Editor
The
Proceedings Editor shall be responsible for editing the annual Proceedings of
the Society.
11.11 Publications Sales Officer
The Publications
Sales Officer shall have custody of the stocks of publications of the Society
including unsold back numbers of the Scottish Journal of Geology and Edinburgh
Geologist together with any other publications which the Council shall from time
to time make available, and shall be responsible for the sale thereof to members
and to the public.
Law 12 General Functions of Council
12.1 The
Council shall act as charity trustees, as defined in the Charities and Trustee
Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, in having the general control and management of
the administration of the Society.
12.2 The Council shall act to ensure
that the Society complies with any direction, requirement, notice or duty imposed
upon it under common law and statute.
12.3 While acting as trustees in exercising
its power of investment of the Societys funds, the Council shall consider
the suitability of any proposed investments and the need for diversification of
investments in so far as is appropriate to the Societys circumstances, and
shall obtain and consider proper advice about how investments should be chosen
or varied.
12.4 The Council shall be responsible for holding the moveable
property of the Society.
12.5 The Council may by majority resolution remove
a Council Member from office where the Council finds that serious or persistent
breach of the duties of a charity trustee has been established.
12.6 The
Council shall meet as often as the business of the Society requires. A Special
Meeting of the Council shall be convened by the Secretary upon receipt of a written
requisition signed by at least three Members of Council.
12.7 At all Meetings
of Council seven shall form a quorum.
12.8 The Council shall appoint annually
Committees to deal with Finance, Planning, the Clough Memorial Fund, Excursions,
Publications, the Lothian and Borders RIGS Group and the Stirling and Clackmannan
RIGS Group, and may from time to time appoint other Committees to deal with such
matters as the Council may refer to them. The Members of such Committees need
not be Members of Council.
Law 13 Meetings of the Society
13.1
Ordinary Meetings
(a) The Ordinary Meetings shall be held at such times
as the Council may decide.
(b) The times, dates and places of Ordinary
Meetings of each Session shall be communicated to members in advance of the first
meeting of each Session by billet which shall state the nature of the business
to be transacted at each Meeting and the titles of addresses or papers to be given.
13.2 Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the
Society shall normally be held on the third Wednesday in January each year. At
this meeting reports on the Societys activities shall be submitted by the
respective Office-Bearers, the Treasurer shall render his/her audited Accounts
in terms of Law 11, and officers elected.
13.3 Special Meetings
The
Council may at any time call a Special Meeting of the Society, and shall be bound
to do so on receipt of the written request of at least ten Members who are Distinguished,
Ordinary, Family, Senior or Life Fellows.
13.4 For any Meeting of the Society
of which notice has not been given in terms of paragraph 13.1(b) or by conformity
with paragraph 13.2 of this Law, reasonable notice shall be given by the Secretary
to all Members of the Society by billet stating the time, date and place of the
Meeting and the nature of the business to be transacted.
13.5 At all Meetings
of the Society twenty shall form a quorum.
Law 14 Excursions
The
Excursions of the Society shall be arranged by the Excursions Secretary as advised
by the Excursions Committee. The dates and venues of the excursions of each Session
shall be communicated to Members by the Excursions Secretary a reasonable time
before the first excursion of each Session.
Law 15 Publications of the
Society
15.1 The Society shall support the publication of the Scottish
Journal of Geology according to the Minute of Agreement between the Edinburgh
Geological Society and the Geological Society of Glasgow, dated 8th October 1964,
and registered in the Books of Council and Session of the Registers of Scotland,
and the Publishing Agreement made between the Edinburgh Geological Society, the
Geological Society of Glasgow and the Geological Society Publishing House, dated
10th December 2008.
15.2 The Proceedings of the Society shall be published
annually under the Editorship of the Proceedings Editor.
15.3 The production
and management of any other publications in the Societys name shall be undertaken
by persons appointed by the Council in accordance with terms of remit resolved
by Council and stated to such persons at the time of their appointment.
Law
16 The Library of the Society
16.1 All purchases of books and periodicals
for the Societys library shall comply with any purchasing policies which
may be resolved upon by the Council from time to time.
16.2 Such purchases
may be made at the Librarian's own discretion, subject to such cash limits as
may be resolved upon by the Council from time to time. Purchases in excess of
such limits shall require the approval of the Council.
16.3 During the
time that the Society's books are in the custody of the Librarian of the University
of Edinburgh, Members may borrow books from the Society's Library and from the
University Library according to the regulations laid down by the University of
Edinburgh for members of the staff of the University.
Law 17 Dissolution
17.1
The Society may be dissolved (i) by resolution of the Society passed at any Meeting
of the Society and confirmed by a further Meeting of the Society duly called for
the purpose, (ii) by resolution of the outgoing Council following a failure to
obtain a quorum for an Annual General Meeting of the Society on three separate
duly notified occasions in any one Session, (iii) by resolution of the outgoing
Council following failure of the Society to fill sufficient of the offices to
supply a quorum of the new Council.
17.2 In the event of the dissolution
of the Society under the foregoing paragraph, or by operation of law, the whole
net assets of the Society remaining after discharge of its liabilities shall vest
in the Royal Society of Edinburgh as trustees either for use or for further disposal,
for such purposes and on such conditions as the Royal Society of Edinburgh may
consider fit, being as near to the objectives of the Society as in the judgement
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh circumstances may then reasonably allow, provided
that the Royal Society of Edinburgh shall have regard to, but shall not be bound
by, any resolutions of the Society or the Council concerning the manner and purposes
of such use or disposal.
17.3 On such vesting of the said net assets in
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Council and Additional Office-Bearers of the Society
shall denude themselves of all such net assets and title thereto in favour of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, subject to such reasonable arrangements as may
be necessary to enable the settlement of the Society's liabilities.
Law
18 Alteration of Laws
No alteration shall be made on these Laws except
at a Special Meeting convened for that purpose. The alteration proposed shall
be tabled at an Ordinary Meeting, and shall be adopted only if agreed to, with
or without amendment, by a majority of the Ordinary Fellows present at the Special
Meeting, which shall be held no earlier than fourteen days thereafter nor later
than the day of the next Ordinary Meeting, following that period.
This
webpage contain a correct copy of the present Constitution of the Edinburgh Geological
Society, being the whole Laws of the said Society corrected to 28th March 2007.
S. K. MONRO President
J. M. DEAN Secretary
D. GOULD Treasurer
Edinburgh, 28th March 2007
APPENDIX
Code of Procedure to be used
in applying Law 7 of the Laws of the Society as revised on 17th March 1982
1
The Council shall not report any Member in terms of Law 7 without first giving
reasonable notice to the Member of the complaint against him and the grounds thereof,
considering fairly any representation which the Member may make in writing to
the Council thereanent, and, if desired by the Member, allowing him a proper hearing
on the complaint and his said representations, before a meeting of the Council
duly convened for the purpose. The Council shall not report the Member unless
the complainer by probation establish the facts of the complaint beyond reasonable
doubt. If either the complainer or the accused Member be a member of Council,
he shall be excluded from the Councils adjudication.
2 Any report
made by Council in terms of Law 7 shall set forth clearly the complaint and the
grounds thereof, an accurate and fair summary of any representationsmade by the
Member as aforesaid, and a summary of the Councils reasons for making the
report. The report shall be intimated to the Society along with the billet for
the meeting at which the report is to be considered. At such meeting, the Member
shall be entitled to make representations upon the report. The meeting shall give
fair and proper consideration to the report and representations before making
any decision thereon.
3 In making oral representations at a hearing before
the Council or to the Society as aforesaid a Member may be represented by an agent
or Counsel if he wish.
4 Any question of fact or law (other than questions
of malice, oppression, denial of natural justice, or other dole) disputed between
the Member and the Society in relation to any complaint under Law 7 shall be submitted,
without recourse to statutory stated case, to the final decision of an arbiter
nominated by the Sheriff Principal of the Lothians and Borders.
5 Law 7
and this Code shal be without prejudice to the ordinary remedies at law for reparation
arising out of the delict of any Member.