INSTITUTE  FOR  LAW  AND  PEACE   (INLAP)

to advance public education on issues of law, peace and justice

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CONSTITUTION

THE INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND PEACE was incorporated as a private limited Company on 1.8.90 and subsequently registered as a charity. The constitution is a long and detailed document and much of it is not relevant to a small organisation. Members have asked for the most useful extracts and these are reproduced here. The full constitution is available from the company secretary.

OBJECTS

POWERS

HOW THE INSTITUTE WORKS

OBJECTS (extract from Memorandum of Association)

 

  1. The Company is established to advance for the benefit of the public education in international, domestic and military systems of law and in particular those relating to the peaceful settlement of disputes, the resort to force in self-defence, and the conduct of armed conflict

 

POWER S (extract from Memorandum of Association)

In furtherance of the said objects, but not further or otherwise, the Company shall have power:

(a) to provide information and to foster and undertake research into any aspect of the objects of the Company and its work, and to disseminate the useful results of any such research;

(b) to bring this body of law to the attention of government departments, service personnel, and other officials, and to co-operate with them in discharging these legal responsibilities;

(c) to foster conscious appreciation of the shared norms which underlie these laws and treaties world-wide and from which they derive their moral authority;

(d) to assist individuals, groups and other bodies through sharing experience, expertise and support;

(e) to cause to be written, and printed or otherwise reproduced and circulated, gratuitously or otherwise, periodicals, magazines, books, leaflets or other documents or films or recorded tapes;

(f) to hold exhibitions, meetings, lectures, classes, seminars and courses either alone or with others;

(g) to co-operate and enter into arrangements with any authorities, national, local or otherwise;

(i) to issue appeals, hold public meetings and take such other steps as may be required for the purpose of procuring contributions to the funds of the Company in the shape of donations, subscriptions or otherwise;

(m) to take and accept any gift of money, property or other assets, whether subject to any special trust or not, for any one or more of the objects of the Company;

(o) to make any charitable donation either in cash or assets for the furtherance of the objects of the Company;

(p) to establish and support any charitable association or body and to subscribe or guarantee money for charitable purposes calculated to further the objects of the Company;

 

HOW THE INSTITUTE WORKS (extracts from the Articles of Association)

5. An application for membership may be approved or rejected by the Committee. The Committee shall have the right for good and sufficient reason to terminate the membership of any member: Provided that the member concerned shall have a right to be heard before a final decision is made.

7. The Company shall each year hold an ... Annual General Meeting (AGM)... and not more than fifteen months shall elapse between the date of one AGM ... and that of the next.

8. The Committee may, whenever they think fit, convene an Extraordinary General Meeting ... ,

11. The business to be transacted at an AGM shall include the consideration of the accounts, balance sheets, and the reports of the Committee and auditors, the election of members of the Committee in the place of those retiring ...,

12. ... three members present in person or one-tenth of the membership, whichever is the greater, shall be a quorum.

16. At any General Meeting a consensus should always be sought, but if this is not obtainable, a resolution ... shall be decided on a show of hands...

19. ... a resolution in writing signed by all the members entitled to receive notice of ... General Meetings ... shall be as valid and effective as if it had been passed at a General Meeting ...

21. No member shall be entitled to vote at any General Meeting unless all moneys presently payable by him to the Company have been paid.

23. ... The committee shall consist of the three officers and at least two further members to be elected at the Annual General Meeting

26. The business of the Company shall be managed by the Committee who ... may exercise all such powers of the Company as are not required to be exercised by the Company in General Meeting.

28. The Committee shall cause Minutes to be made

(a) of all appointments of officers ...

(c) of all resolutions and proceedings at meetings ...

33. A member of the Committee must be a member of the Company. At an AGM elections shall first take place for three officers - Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.

42. The Committee may delegate any of its powers to sub-committees ...

50. The Committee shall cause accounting records to be kept ...

52. The accounts shall be open to inspection to members of the Company at reasonable times ...

 

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Institute for Law and Peace.  Company No. 2526884. Charity No. 1000444. This page   last updated 14 August 2003.