The Constitution of
JURIS DIVERSITAS
Article
1: Name and seat
Juris Diversitas
is the name of an association as defined in Article
60 et sequens of the
Swiss Civil Code. The Association has its seat
at the Swiss Institute of
Comparative Law in Lausanne-Dorigny,
Switzerland.
Article
2: Aims
The
Association encourages interdisciplinary research on legal and normative
mixtures and movements through meetings, publications, and co-operation with
like-minded individuals, associations, entities and institutions both of a
private and of a public nature. With the approval of the President and both
Vice-Presidents, the Association may also act for practical legal purposes,
including, eg, research, legal education, legal drafting, legal reform, or
other legal operations.
Article
3: Means
The means
of the Association consist in membership
fees
and voluntary contributions of members and third parties.
Article
4: Membership
Any natural person identifying
with the aims of the Association can become a member with the
approval of the Executive
Committee
and payment of membership
fees.
Article
5: Statutory bodies
The statutory bodies
of the Association include a General Assembly,
an Executive
Committee,
and Auditors.
Article 6: The General
Assembly
The ‘General Assembly’
is the membership acting collectively as the
supreme
organ of the Association. It takes its decisions
either
at the Annual General Meeting,
at Extraordinary General Meetings or through Extraordinary Votes as described below.
Elections are
held as described below.
For all decisions of the
General
Assembly, reasonable efforts
should be made
by the Executive Committee to allow voting by as many members as possible.
Ordinary decisions of the
General
Assembly require a majority of those
voting; constitutional amendments by the
General
Assembly require a two-thirds majority of those voting.
Article
7: The Executive Committee
The executive business of the
Association is conducted by its Executive
Committee.
The officers
of the Executive Committee include
a President,
two Vice-Presidents, a General Secretary, a Treasurer, and up to two other
officers. The
Executive
Committee
shall determine categories of membership, evaluate membership applications, and determine membership fees.
Ordinary decisions of the
Executive
Committee
require
a majority of those voting; in case of a tie,
the President casts the
deciding vote.
The Executive Committee may dismiss members for stated
reasons and a unanimous vote. It may also select additional individuals for an Advisory Council
that serves
at the pleasure of the Executive Committee.
Article
8: The Duties
and Election of the President
The President represents the Association and its Constitution and presides at
its meetings.
The President is elected by the General Assembly
for a renewable term of
two calendar years.
The election must be
scheduled
to take place
no later than October of the
calendar year
before
a new term
begins. The
Executive
Committee
must communicate the date
and location of the election
to members
so that they have a reasonable time to
consider nominations and candidates. If possible,
the election should take
place during the Annual General Meeting.
Nominees must
be members and nominations must be
communicated at least a week before the election to
a member
chosen by the
Executive
Committee
to act as Election Officer. The
Election Officer
may not be a member of the
incumbent Committee and
must agree
not to take a position on the new Executive Committee. Where only
a single nomination is received, the person nominated
is deemed elected. If
there
are two or more
candidates, the
person elected
must receive a majority of the
votes cast. When
a majority is not reached, the
two candidates receiving
the highest
votes compete for the
office in a new
election
to be held
within a week
of the first election. All electoral disputes
are handled
by the incumbent
Executive
Committee.
Article
9: The Duties
and Appointment of Officers
The Vice-Presidents
of the Association assist the President in achieving
the aims of the
Association. The General Secretary
manages the
records of the
Association and takes primary responsibility for communications with its members.
The Treasurer manages
the finances
of the Association. The Treasurer shall submit an annual financial report to the
membership
at its Annual General Meeting and other
financial reports when requested by
the President.
After the election
of the President, the
President
shall first appoint two Vice-Presidents.
The President and Vice-Presidents shall
collectively
appoint a General
Secretary
and a Treasurer;
they may also appoint up to two other members of the
Executive
Committee
for specific duties. Where a vacancy subsequently arises
on the Executive Committee, the President
and Vice-Presidents shall select an individual to serve for the
remaining term
of the office
vacated.
Article
10: The Duties
and Appointment of Auditors
Auditors
monitor the finances of the
Association. Any member may propose
either
an External Auditor or Internal Auditor to audit the
Treasurer’s
accounts. An External Auditor is
chosen from beyond
the membership, an Internal
is chosen from amongst the membership (excluding
officers of the
Executive
Committee).
All Auditors are elected by
a majority of the General
Assembly voting in either an
Extraordinary General Meeting or an Extraordinary Vote.
Article
11: The Removal
of Officers and Auditors
The President and Vice-Presidents
may collectively
dismiss other officers, including a Vice-President,
with a majority vote between them.
In addition, where a member petitions
the Executive Committee to remove one of
the officers
or an Auditor, the remaining officers
must organise a vote on removal
to take place.
The vote
should take place within a reasonable time
amount of time for the matter
to be considered. Removal
requires
a two-thirds majority of the General
Assembly voting. The officer
or Auditor removed may not serve again until an intervening presidential election.
Article 12: The
Annual General
Meeting
The ‘Annual General Meeting’ is the gathering
of members
of the Association that is generally
held once
in a calendar year. The
Annual General
Meeting
deals with proposed changes
in the Constitution, the approval of the
annual financial report and the accounts, and any other
issue as decided by the
Executive
Committee
or as requested by a member as discussed
below. At each
Annual General
Meeting,
the President shall also present an annual report
on the activities of the
Association.
The Executive Committee must communicate
the date
and location of the Annual General Meeting to
members
giving them a reasonable
time to organise attendance and to make
petitions for the agenda
of the Annual General Meeting.
The Executive Committee must similarly communicate
the agenda
of the Annual General Meeting to
members
in a reasonable
time.
Article
13: Extraordinary General Meetings and Votes
Where one-fifth of the
members
collectively
petition the
Executive
Committee,
the President must organise
either
an Extraordinary General Meeting or an Extraordinary Vote
to decide
the issues
discussed in the petition.
The decision
must be made
by the Executive Committee collectively and communicated
to the petitioners within a reasonable time. The Executive Committee may also decide to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting or an Extraordinary Vote
when it deems necessary.
If an
Extraordinary General Meeting is held,
the Executive Committee must communicate
the date
and location of the meeting to
members
giving them a reasonable
time to organise attendance. Similarly, if an Extraordinary Vote is held,
it should take place electronically within a reasonable time
with reasonable
notice given
to the members.
Article
14: Dissolution
A decision approving dissolution of the Association requires a vote
organised by the Executive Committee and resulting
in a two-thirds majority of the General
Assembly in favour of dissolution. If
dissolution is approved, the Executive Committee shall use
any assets of the Association to settle its debts
and liabilities. Remaining assets
will be donated
to an institution with a similar purpose.
