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Constitution

1)  DEFINITIONS

In this Constitution:‘the Society’ shall mean The United Kingdom Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.‘The Association’ shall mean The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.‘The United Kingdom’ shall mean the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.‘Paid-up Members’ shall mean members of the Society whose membership fees thereto are not in arrears at the material date upon which their status falls to be determined.‘The Executive’ shall mean the Executive of the Society.

 

2) NAME

The name of the Society is The United Kingdom Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

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3) OBJECTS

The Objects of the Society, which is a non-political and non-profit making body, are: 

  1. To contribute, alone or in co-operation with other International or National organisations, towards the establishment of an International legal order based on the Rule of Law in relations between all Nations and States; and to promote Human Rights and the principles of equality of men and the right of all states and peoples to live in peace. 

  2. To promote study of legal problems of special interest to Jewish Communities in the world within the framework of International and Domestic Law. 

  3. To promote in consultation with the legal profession in Israel and its organs, the study of legal problems of particular interest to the State of Israel. 

  4. To seek information and data on the legal and personal status of Jews in fact and in law in various countries, with special reference to the status of Jews within the framework of the International Declarations and Conventions on Human Rights and International Law. 

  5. To promote the study of and research into the sources of Jewish Law with reference to the legal concepts of other nations. 

  6. With reference to the foregoing, to promote the study of and research into the system of comparative law with a view to disseminating information to members of the Association. 

  7. To organise, promote and maintain legal assistance through the members of the Association and its organs for such cases as may be approved by its Executive Committee. 

  8. To enter into and maintain any form of affiliation with the Association. 

  9. To promote and maintain co-operation and exchanges with the Association and its members. 

  10. In respect of the objects of the Association, to engage in such other matters in legal spheres as may be decided to be appropriate to the Society. 

  11. To do all such things in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in the world.

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4) MEMBERSHIP

Membership of the Society is open to all persons whose application for membership is approved by the Executive and who are present or former: 

  1. Members of the judiciary

  2. Members of the magistracy 

  3. Members of the legal profession 

  4. Persons engaged in the teaching of law 

  5. Persons engaged in research in law 

  6. Students of law, or 

  7. Persons having an interest in law or in matters related thereto. 

 

5) MEMBERSHIP FEES

The membership period of the Society shall be its accounting year or such other period as the Executive may determine.  Membership fees shall become due on the first day of each such period and shall be such sums as may from time to time be fixed by the Executive.  The Executive may determine differential levels of membership fees, in particular for students.  

 

6) GENERAL MEETINGS

  1. The Society shall in each calendar year hold an Annual General Meeting and such other General Meetings as the Executive shall convene.  All  Paid-up Members shall be invited to all General Meetings by not less than fourteen days’ written notice thereof (or, if this shall be considered impracticable, by publication of notice of such General Meeting in The Jewish Chronicle) summarising the business to be considered thereat.  The accidental omission to give notice of any General Meeting to any Paid-up Member shall not invalidate the convening of the Meeting or the proceedings thereof. 

  2. In any calendar year, not more than two General Meetings may be requisitioned by notice signed by not less than twenty Paid-up Members summarising the nature of the business proposed to be discussed thereat and given to the Executive. 

  3. The quorum for the holding of a General Meeting shall be four Paid-up Members present in person. 

  4. General Meetings shall be conducted in such manner as the Chairman thereof shall think fit, having regard at all times to accepted practices for the proper conduct of meetings.

 

7) VOTING AT GENERAL MEETINGS

  1. The only persons entitled to vote at General Meetings shall be Paid-up Members, each of whom shall have one vote, which may be cast in person or by proxy.   

  2. The instrument appointing a proxy shall be in writing signed by the appointer.  It may be expressed to be in favour of the Chairman of the Meeting or of any person who is a Paid-up Member, and may authorise the appointee to vote in accordance with the directions of the appointer or at his discretion.  In order to be valid, the instrument appointing a proxy shall be delivered to the Secretary of the Society not later than the time appointed for the holding of the General Meeting to which it relates. 

  3. Save as provided in Clause 12 hereof, any resolution and any amendment thereto which may be proposed at any General Meeting shall be passed by the affirmative vote of not less than a simple majority in number of the Paid-up Members voting thereupon in person or by proxy.

  4. Any amendment proposed at any General Meeting shall be voted upon before the resolution to which it relates.  If the amendment is passed, the resolution shall be amended accordingly.  If two or more amendments are proposed in respect of one resolution, they shall be considered, consolidated and voted upon in such manner and sequence as the Chairman of the Meeting shall see fit. 

  5. In determining the number of votes cast in favour of or against (as the case may be) any resolution or any amendment thereto proposed at any General Meeting, there shall be counted both the votes cast on a show of hands and those cast by proxy (disregarding any proxy vote cast by a Paid-up Member who shall have voted on the show of hands). 

  6. In the case of an equal number of votes being cast for and against any resolution or any amendment thereto, the Chairman of the Meeting shall have a second or casting vote, in default of whose exercise the resolution or amendment shall be deemed to have been defeated.

 

8) THE EXECUTIVE

  1. At each Annual General Meeting there shall be individually elected up to twelve persons to constitute the Executive.  All such persons shall hold office until the conclusion of the next following Annual General Meeting, and shall be eligible for re-election to the Executive. 

  2. No person shall be elected as a member of the Executive unless:

    1. he shall be a Paid-up Member; and 

    2. he shall have been nominated for such election by a Paid-up Member, or by himself, by written notice received by the Secretary not less than twenty one days before the date of the annual General Meeting at which he seeks election; and 

    3. at such Annual General Meeting at least five votes (or, if less, at least one tenth of the votes cast on the resolution for his election) are cast in favour of his election.

  3. The Executive shall be responsible for the activities of the Society and the conduct of its affairs. 

  4. The Executive shall have power to co-opt as a member of the Executive any person or persons whose anticipated contribution thereto it considers likely to be of value and to remove any such co-opted member.  Any such co-opted member of the Executive shall (unless previously so removed) hold office until the conclusion of the next following Annual General Meeting of the Society, and shall be eligible for re-co-option. 

  5. The Executive shall meet as frequently as it shall consider appropriate, and shall regulate its proceedings in such manner as it shall think fit, having regard at all times to accepted practices for the proper conduct of meetings. 

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9) HONORARY OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY

  1. The Executive shall appoint a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, a Secretary and a Treasurer of the Society, and may appoint such other Honorary Officers of the Society as it may think fit.  Any such appointee shall be (as the case may be) an elected or a co-opted member of the Executive.  Any person so appointed shall vacate such office at the conclusion of the next following Annual General Meeting of the Society and shall be eligible for re-appointment. 

  2. The Executive may appoint an Honorary President and one or more Honorary Vice-Presidents of the Society.  Any person so appointed may be appointed for such term as the Executive may see fit and shall be eligible for re-appointment. 

  3. The Chairman shall (unless he shall invite any other Honorary Officer or member of the Executive to do so) preside at all General Meetings and at all meetings of the Executive.  In his absence, the Chair shall be taken by a Vice-Chairman or by any other Honorary Officer or member of the Executive.

10) COMMITTEES

  1. The Executive may create such committees as it may from time to time determine, in order to carry on the work of the Society in any given geographical area of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, to consider particular issues or for such other purpose as the Executive may determine. 

  2. Any committee so created shall appoint its own Chairman who, if not already a member of the Executive, shall become an ex officio member of the Executive.  The provisions of clauses 8.4 and 8.5 hereof shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the conduct of the proceedings of any such committee.  The Chairman of any such committee shall report periodically to the Executive on its activities. 

  3. Any committee created by the Executive may, on reasonable notice to its members, be dissolved by the Executive. 

 

11) FINANCE

  1. Bank accounts shall be opened and maintained by the Society.  Mandates shall require the signature of at least two members of the Executive to all cheques to a value exceeding two hundred pounds (£200) drawn by the Society and to all instructions given by the Society to its bankers. 

  2. The Treasurer of the Society shall maintain books of account in relation to the financial affairs of the Society and shall present accounts in respect of the preceding accounting year of the Society at the next following Annual General Meeting.

 

12) CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION

Any resolution and any amendment thereto proposed at any General Meeting whose explicit or implicit effect is to change the Constitution of the Association shall be passed by the affirmative vote of not less than two thirds of the Paid-up Members voting thereupon in person or by proxy.  The text of any such resolution and any then notified amendments thereto shall be circulated to members with the notice of such General Meeting.  Save as aforesaid, the provisions of Clause 7.4 shall apply to any such amendments.

 

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