ALP by laws

ASSOCIATION FOR LOGIC PROGRAMMING  CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE 1.  MEMBERS

1.1     Classes of Members

The Association shall have five classes of members:

- Regular Members,

- Affiliated Members, who shall have all the rights and privileges of
  Regular Members except the right to vote,

- Student Members, who shall have all the rights and privileges of
  Regular Members except the right to vote,

- Honorary Members, who shall have all the rights and privileges of
  Regular Members except that the annual subscription shall be waived,

- Honorary Student Members, who shall have all the rights and
  privileges of Student Members except that the annual subscription
  shall be waived,

- Institutional Members, who shall have all the rights and privileges
  of Regular Members except the right to vote.

1.2 Membership

1.2.1 Membership shall be open to persons interested in the study of
      Logic Programming and the design of Logic Programming systems.
      Corporate bodies, departments in educational establishments and
      libraries with interests in this field of activity may be
      admitted as Institutional Members.

1.2.2 Any person may become a Member upon acceptance of an application
      for membership by the Executive Council and payment of the
      subscription.

1.2.3 By decision of the Executive Council any other Society or
      Association with interests in Logic Programming may be accorded
      Affiliated Status.  All members of an affiliated society shall
      become Affiliated Members of the Association.

1.2.4 Annual subscriptions shall be determined by the Executive
      Council.

1.3 Voting Rights

Each Regular Member shall be entitled to one vote of any vote of the
membership.

1.4 Right to inspect documents

Any Member shall be entitled to inspect the books and records of the
Association at the Head Office from time to time of the Association
during normal working hours on reasonable prior notice for any proper
purpose.

1.5 Termination of Membership

1.5.1 If a Member shall fail to pay the current subscription within
      the renewal period set by the Secretary, then that Member's
      membership shall terminate automatically.

1.5.2 The Executive Council shall have the right to suspend or expel
      any Member by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the
      Members of the Executive Council.

1.5.3 Any Member may resign by sending a written resignation to the
      Secretary.

1.6 Reinstatement

The Executive Council may reinstate a former Member who has applied to
the Secretary-Treasurer in writing for reinstatement.

1.7 Transfer of membership

Membership of the Association is not transferable.

ARTICLE 2       MEETINGS OF MEMBERS

2.1 A meeting of Members shall normally be held annually at the
    meeting of the International Conference on Logic Programming.  If
    there shall be no meeting of this Conference in any year then a
    meeting of Members may be held at a time and place specified by
    the Executive Council to be announced in the Newsletter.

2.2 Voting at the annual meeting shall be by show of hands unless a
    secret ballot is requested by any Member.  The result of any vote
    shall be announced before the termination or adjournment of the
    meeting.

ARTICLE 3       MANNER OF VOTING

3.1 Except at an annual meeting all voting by the membership shall be
    conducted by post.

3.2 No Member shall be entitled to appoint a proxy.

3.3 Unless otherwise stated in these Articles any vote shall be
    decided by a simple majority.

ARTICLE 4       ELECTIONS

4.1 An Election Committee shall be appointed by the Executive Council
    and shall be responsible for the conduct of elections.

4.2 Unless otherwise determined by the Executive Council not later
    than 1st July in any Election Year, the Election Date shall be
    30th November.

4.3 The Election Committee shall nominate one or more persons for the
    position of President and for any positions falling vacant on the
    Executive Council.

4.4 The Election Committee shall circulate such nominations to the
    membership not less than thirty days before the Election Date.
    The Election Committee shall include in the list of nominations
    any name submitted to it before such circulation and supported by
    ten Members.

4.5 All terms of office shall run from 1st January in the year
    following the election.

4.6 Any vacancy which occurs on the Executive Council after 1st August
    in any year may be filled by the Executive Council until the next
    scheduled election.

ARTICLE 5       OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

5.1 The Association shall have the following Officers who shall be
    elected by a vote of the Membership:

(a) President (who shall be elected for a two-year term).  Unless
    re-elected, at the end of his term of office he/she shall
    automatically become Past-President and serve in that capacity
    until the newly elected President becomes the Past-President.

(b) Seven Executive Committee members (who shall normally be elected
    for a term of four years: of those elected in the first election
    in 1988, however, four shall serve for the four-year term but the
    other three shall serve for two years only - unless re-elected).

(c) No such Officer may serve more than two consecutive terms in the
    same capacity.

5.2 In addition the Association shall have a Secretary, a Treasurer, a
    Conference Coordinator, a Conference Budget Auditor and an Editor
    of the Newsletter who shall be appointed as Officers by the
    Executive Council and who shall serve for such term as the
    Executive Council shall determine.

5.3 All Officers must be Members of the Association.

5.4 The Officers of the Association shall fulfil the following
    functions:

5.4.1 The President shall be the principal executive officer of the
      Association.  He/she shall:

        (a) supervise the affairs of the Association,

        (b) normally chair all meetings of Members and of the
            Executive Council: if for any reason he/she is absent
            he/she may nominate any other Officer of the Association
            to chair any such meeting,

        (c) have charge and custody of, and be responsible for, all
            funds and securities of the Association.

5.4.2   The Secretary shall:

        (a) keep or cause to be kept correct and complete:

              (i) minutes of meetings of Members, the Executive
                  Council and committees of the Association,

             (ii) a register of Members entitled to vote together with
                  their addresses.

5.4.3   The Treasurer shall

        (a) keep correct and complete books and records of accounts,

        (b) receive and give receipts for monies due and payable to
            the Association and make deposits in banks, trust
            companies or other depositories selected by him/her or by
            the Executive Council,

        (c) be custodian of records of the Association and of any
            company formed by the Association for the management of
            its affairs,

        (d) prepare annual account summaries that are published in the
            Newsletter once every year,

        (e) monitor on a regular basis the finances of the
            Association, and, particularly, its cash flow situation
            for the forthcoming period (typically 12 to 24 months)

5.4.4 The Conference Co-ordinator shall have overall responsibility
      for co-ordinating meetings of adopted Conferences and Workshops
      of the Association and for liaising with the organisers of
      co-sponsored Conferences.

5.4.5 The role of the Conference Budget Auditor is to liaise with the
      Conference Chairman of each adopted/sponsored Conference and to
      agree with the Conference Chair the proposed budget for the
      Conference.

5.4.6 The Newsletter Editor shall have responsibility for editing and
      publishing the Association Newsletter under the overall
      direction of the Publications Committee.

ARTICLE 6       EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

6.1.1 The Executive Council shall consist of the President, the Past
      President of the Association and the seven Executive Committee
      members.  Other Officers of the Association and Chairmen of
      Appointed Committees shall be entitled to attend all meetings of
      the Executive Council but shall not be entitled to vote in
      decisions taken by the Executive Council.  They are not members
      of the Executive Council.

6.1.2 The Executive Council shall be entitled to admit to any meeting
      of the Executive Council any other Member of the Association,
      but such Members shall not be entitled to vote.

6.1.3 A quorum for the purposes of the Executive Council shall consist
      of five members of the Executive Council.

6.2 The Executive Council shall meet once a year during the
International Conference on Logic Programming and at such other times
as it shall determine.

6.3 The Executive Council shall manage the affairs of the Association
    including (but not by way of limitation) setting the amount of the
    annual subscription rates for each class of Member (which shall be
    reviewed annually) and the qualification for membership.

6.4 No elected member of the Executive Council shall receive any
    salary for his/her services as a member of the Executive Council
    but this shall not prevent such an elected member from serving the
    Association in some other capacity which carries a salary.

6.5     The Executive Council may authorise:

        (a) any Officer or agent of the Association to enter into any
            contract or execute and deliver any instrument in the name
            of and on behalf of the Association,

        (b) the Secretary, the President and/or any other Officer or
            agent of the Association to sign any cheque, draft or
            order of payment.  Any cheque above the value of One
            Thousand Pounds (or such other sum as the Executive
            Council may from time to time substitute there for) must
            be signed by the President or such other two persons as
            the Executive Council may from time to time authorise.

6.6 Decisions of the Executive Council may be made by votes sent to
    the President or Secretary by ordinary or electronic mail.  A
    quorum for such votes shall consist of five members of the
    Executive Council.

ARTICLE 7       COMMITTEES

7.1 The Executive Council may appoint the following committees and
    such other committee(s) as it may deem appropriate:

        (a) The Election Committee, which shall be responsible for the
            conduct of elections.

        (b) The Program Committee for each meeting of an adopted
            conference. The membership of the Program Committee is
            determined by the Executive Council taking into account
            the recommendations of the Chairman of the Program
            Committee.  The Chairman of the Program Committee shall be
            the Editor of the Proceedings of the meeting of the
            Conference and, together with the President, shall be
            responsible for arranging the publication of the
            Proceedings.

        (c) The Conference Organisation Committee for each meeting of
            an adopted Conference, which will be responsible for the
            planning and execution of that meeting of the
            Conference. The Conference Co-ordinator shall be a member
            of every Conference Organisation Committee formed during
            his term of office.  The Chairman of the Conference
            Organisation Committee shall be the General Chairman of
            the meeting of the Conference.

        (d) The Publications Committee, which shall be responsible for
            the Newsletter of the Association and/or any other
            publication specified by the Executive Council, which
            shall appoint the members and Chairperson of the
            Committee.  The Editor of the Newsletter shall also be a
            member of the Publications Committee.

ARTICLE 8       CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

8.1 An Association Conference is a conference/workshop (which may
    include a co-sponsored conference/workshop) which has been
    formally adopted by the Association by means of a two-thirds vote
    of the Executive Council.

8.2 The Executive Council will appoint the General Chairman and the
    Chairman of the Program Committee and decide the date and location
    of each meeting of an adopted Conference.

8.3 Unless otherwise decided by the Executive Council, the Association
    shall be entitled to all net profits engendered by a meeting of an
    adopted Conference and to all royalties arising from the sale of
    any publication of the Proceedings of such meeting.

8.4 The International Logic Programming Conference and the
    International Logic Programming Symposium are Conferences which
    have been formally adopted by the Association.

8.5.1 The Association may also co-sponsor a conference/workshop in an
      area related to Logic Programming as determined by a two-thirds
      vote of the Executive Council.

8.5.2 In return for such co-sponsorship, the Association shall be
      entitled to such a share of the profits engendered by the
      co-sponsored conference/workshop and of the royalties arising
      from the sale of any publication of proceedings of such
      conference/workshop as determined by the Executive Council.

ARTICLE 9       PUBLICATION OF A NEWSLETTER

9.1 The Association shall publish at least once per year a Newsletter
    which shall be distributed to all Members free of charge.

ARTICLE 10      ADMINISTRATION

10.1 The Association has procured the incorporation of the Association
     for Logic Programming Limited, a private limited company resident
     in England and Wales to administer the functions of the
     Association.  The President, and such other Officers of the
     Association as the Executive Council may nominate, shall be
     directors of the Company and the Secretary shall be its
     secretary.  All funds received by the Association shall be paid
     into the Company and its audited accounts shall be published
     annually in the Newsletter.

ARTICLE 11      AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

11.1    The Constitution of the Association may be altered:

        (a) by a majority vote of the Association provided that at
            least one-third of the total membership shall vote in
            favour, or

        (b) by resolution of the Executive Council with not less than
            six Members of the Executive Council voting in favour of
            the resolution.