On 22 Mar 2011, at 16:57, Geoff Wicks wrote: > A Quanta member has sent the committee some suggestions for amending the > constitution to provide for the situation where an AGM is inquorate. > > I raised this question at the 2008 AGM and John Mason said that "proxy votes > count towards a quorum". (The quotation comes from the minutes of the > meeting.) I tend to disagree with John on this point, but I am unable to > prove that he is wrong. Equally I am unable to prove that he is right. > > I spent some time researching this last night and came across a lot of > contradictory opinions, but no definite legal argument or opinion either way. > I wonder if there is anyone with experience of this problem who could point > me to a legal source or similar authority that could give a (more or less) > definitive answer to the problem. > > Should it be possible for proxy votes to count towards a quorum and should > Quanta wish to do that, it would seem sensible to include it in the > constitution so that there is no misunderstanding should an inquorate > situation occur. > > As one of the people who has offered to help in the drafting of a > constitution I would be unhappy about including anything about which I was > not legally certain, > > Best Wishes, > > Geoff > > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Geoff The Charities Commission publishes a model constitution which you can get as a PDF file. A quorum must be PRESENT. Present is the operative word. As proxies are unable to take part in any debate, I would say that there is no case for what JM claims. Have you asked him what his authority is for such an exaggerated claim. The Quanta constitution does not support the idea anyway and that is what he was operating under at the time. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
