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Following the bylaws


Robert B Fish

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It's been stated from time to time in this forum that if an organization will not enforce its own bylaws, it has ceased to be an organization (or words to that effect).

An example might be that the executive committee chooses to act on a matter that is clearly beyond the scope of its authority as listed in the bylaws. A point of order is made at a meeting of the board of directors and the board decides on appeal, that, even though the meaning of the bylaws is clear, the point of order is not well taken.

Other examples could range from a runaway president or the membership choosing to adopt a deficit budget (by majority vote) when the bylaws forbid such actions.

OK, so where does it say this organization has ceased to be an organization? And, is this an area where a little breach is not as bad as a major one?

-Bob

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It's been stated from time to time in this forum that if an organization will not enforce its own bylaws, it has ceased to be an organization (or words to that effect).

Someone with a better memory than me can chime in, but I don't ever recall anyone saying this stuff, even in the old forum.

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It's been stated from time to time in this forum that if an organization will not enforce its own bylaws, it has ceased to be an organization (or words to that effect).

An example might be that the executive committee chooses to act on a matter that is clearly beyond the scope of its authority as listed in the bylaws. A point of order is made at a meeting of the board of directors and the board decides on appeal, that, even though the meaning of the bylaws is clear, the point of order is not well taken.

Other examples could range from a runaway president or the membership choosing to adopt a deficit budget (by majority vote) when the bylaws forbid such actions.

OK, so where does it say this organization has ceased to be an organization? And, is this an area where a little breach is not as bad as a major one?

-Bob

There is nothing in RONR that says that if an organization will not enforce its own bylaws, it has ceased to be an organization (or words to that effect), and I don't recall seeing any such thing stated from time to time in this forum.

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Apparently the quote was from the other forum.

What sacrilege! There is no "the other forum". There is the RONR Forum, and then there are all other forums. :-)

So what is the status of an organization that refuses to follow its own bylaws?

Refuses to follow them at all? Or refuses to follow some aspect of them?

If the former, their status is very bad. If the latter, their status is probably normal.

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Taking a shot, I hazard that Mr Fish is misremembering the occasions where the original poster of a thread says (too often, to everyone's irritation, after a few replies have been posted) that his organization does not have any bylaws. That's when some of the regular posters (myself emphatically not among them, after I changed my mind about it) said that without bylaws, the group of people does not have an organization. (At least one citation for this belief is on p. 559, lines 23 - 24, which refers to "the adoption of the bylaws through which a society is brought into being." I have the feeling there's more, but a few minutes' groping fails to come up with any.)

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