Constitutions not allowed?

[JMohawk]

Hello: 

I am on the board of a 100+ year old organization. We recently had a person who claims to be an RP tell us that under RONR 12th Ed., we are "not allowed" to have a constitution. We operate under a constitution and separate bylaws, with the constitution being harder to amend, and RONR 

The closest thing I could find in RONR (Section 2:8), says that it's now advisable practice to combine those separate documents into one - but nothing about it being required. (For what it's worth, we are incorporated in the State of New York). 

So, my question to the group is: is this "constitution not allowed" argument well-founded, or is it someone simply trying to stir up trouble or prove how smart they are? I'd like to get some other informed opinions. 

Edited December 29, 2020 at 07:46 AM by JMohawk

[Guest Puzzling]

Somebody is trying to stir up trouble.

RONR has no power to prohibit anything in constitution or bylaws. 

The only thing RONR does is recommend what is in them and ADViCES to use one combined document, (to prevent arguments between them)

Does your organisation has a charter? 

. 

[Dan Honemann]

4 hours ago, JMohawk said:

Hello: 

I am on the board of a 100+ year old organization. We recently had a person who claims to be an RP tell us that under RONR 12th Ed., we are "not allowed" to have a constitution. We operate under a constitution and separate bylaws, with the constitution being harder to amend, and RONR 

The closest thing I could find in RONR (Section 2:8), says that it's now advisable practice to combine those separate documents into one - but nothing about it being required. (For what it's worth, we are incorporated in the State of New York). 

So, my question to the group is: is this "constitution not allowed" argument well-founded, or is it someone simply trying to stir up trouble or prove how smart they are? I'd like to get some other informed opinions. 

As you may have noticed, RONR, 12th ed., 2:11, does say that:

"In an incorporated society there generally should not be a constitution separate from the bylaws, since in such a case the constitution would duplicate much of the corporate charter." 

However, nowhere in RONR is it said that this is "not allowed."

And by the way, this is nothing new. The exact same sentence quoted above will be found in every edition from 1970 to the present.