Legal Profession (General Meetings) By-laws

These By-laws may be cited as the Legal Profession (General Meetings) By-laws.

Except where the general meeting otherwise decides, notice of all motions to be discussed at the general meeting shall be given to the Secretary of the Society not less than 10 days prior to the date of the general meeting and the Secretary shall give notice of such motion to all members of the Society at least 5 days prior to the date of the meeting.

Every motion shall have a proposer and a seconder. No discussion shall be allowed on a motion until it has been seconded.

After a motion has been moved and seconded, the proposer thereof shall have the right to speak on the motion. The motion shall then be open for discussion and amendment.

An amendment to a motion shall like the main motion be moved, seconded and discussed in accordance with by-law 7.

The proposer of any motion or amendment thereto shall submit the motion or amendment in writing if he is required to do so by the chairman.

Except with the permission of the chairman, no member shall speak more than once on any question but the mover of an original motion shall have the right to reply at the close of the debate on his motion, and the mover of an amendment shall similarly be allowed to reply at the close of the debate on his amendment. No further discussion of the question shall be allowed once the question has been put from the chair.

A member moving a motion or an amendment thereto shall be deemed to have spoken on it. A member seconding the motion or amendment without speaking on it may reserve his right to speak on it subsequently.

A member who has not already participated in the debate may at any time, whether another speaker has the floor or not, move “That the question be now put”. The chairman shall have absolute discretion to accept or refuse the motion. The motion, if accepted by the chairman, shall be put without amendment or debate. The chairman may also of his own volition put the question if he is satisfied that adequate discussion has taken place. In either case, the mover of a motion shall retain his right of reply. If an amendment is before the chair, the closure motion shall be deemed to close the debate on the amendment only.

A motion or an amendment thereto before the chair shall not be withdrawn except with the leave of the chairman.

A member may move “That the debate (or meeting) be now adjourned”. Such a motion shall be open for discussion but any amendments thereto shall be confined to time or place only. The motion shall take precedence over other business before the chair, except points of order.

Subject to these By-laws, any decision made by a validly-constituted meeting shall not be void by reason only of a departure from these By-laws which was not detected until after the decision had been made.

Any matters not dealt with in these By-laws shall be governed by the customary procedure at meetings.

The Secretary of the Society shall record the minutes of a general meeting and circulate copies of the minutes to all members of the Society within 30 days of the date of the meeting.