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term of office question


Trina

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In a recent post, the poster quoted bylaws that included this in the description of term of office:

'officers holding a 2 (two) year term and/or until their successors are elected'

Does the use of 'and/or' make this indecipherable in the context of the distinction made between 'and' and 'or' on page 574? Or does the phrase have a clear meaning as it stands?

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In a recent post, the poster quoted bylaws that included this in the description of term of office:

'officers holding a 2 (two) year term and/or until their successors are elected'

Does the use of 'and/or' make this indecipherable in the context of the distinction made between 'and' and 'or' on page 574? Or does the phrase have a clear meaning as it stands?

In general, I tend to think that "and/or" has the parliamentary effect of "or," but, strictly speaking, it is not covered by anything on p. 574, so it could constitute an ambiguity in that regard.

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I can't see anything unambiguous about it. As a concrete example of the meaning, imagine a Scoutmaster instructing his little Tenderfeet charges, "As you scour the forest, fill your burlap bags with turnips or wolverines or both." Clear, eh?

Now transfer the image to terms of office. "As you scour the forest, fill your burlap bags with two-year terms or until their successors are elected or both." However could the children know what to put into their bags, or how much?

(Or both.)

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Thanks for the various replies. The turnips and wolverines aren't helping me any, though, perhaps because the 'or' in the RONR definition of 'or until their successors are elected' is an odd and specialized use of the word 'or' in the first place.

A term of 'two years or until their successors are elected,' really defaults to 'until their successors are elected' -- that latter condition dominates, whether it occurs before the two years, or after the two years. 'Two years' just seems to be a nod toward what the length of the term should be, if there are no bumps in the road.

Thus, if Gary's peculiar Scoutmaster says, "you are to put a turnip or a wolverine in your bag," under the RONR interpretation, everyone must come back with a wolverine. Anyone who finds a turnip first will just have to keep searching.

So, I have to conclude that 'and/or' defaults to whatever it means in common speech (which is what, exactly?), and doesn't provide any guidance to the organization should it wish to remove someone from office before his term is up (as described on p. 574 ll. 12-16)

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Probably as a matter of common sense, where interpretation is not possible (I'm not saying it's not in this case), it's best to afford the officer the greatest level of due process found in RONR, since you're question also assumes there are no disciplinary procedures in their bylaws.

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