[Osmf-talk] Membership

[Tom Hughes]

On 20/08/09 11:07, Frederik Ramm wrote:

> Tom Hughes wrote:
>> Certainly we can't make people members without their active consent,
>> both because the Companies Act requires it (section 112(2) of the 2006
>> act) and because by doing so they will become liable to pay up to £5
>> in the event of the foundation going bust.
>
> Of course we could always do away with members (in the legal sense)
> altogether, and instead form our own status (e.g. "registered OSMF
> supporter"). We could re-write our AoA in a way that gives these
> registered supporters some codified rights etc., and we could design all
> this ourselves without having to refer to the Companies Act which we
> don't seem to be particularly good at!
>
> That way, we'd not be exposing everyone to the intricacies of UK
> companies law. However the unsolved question would of course be
> democratic control - if everyone is just a "registered supporter" then
> who gets to vote for the board?

I had assumed the the Companies Act would require directors to be 
elected by the members but I can't actually find anything which says 
that directly... So maybe the articles could allow non-members to be 
involved in the vote? Something to get legal advice on I think.

Of course the answer may be for the foundation not to be a company 
limited by guarantee within the definition of UK company law anyway.

Tom

-- 
Tom Hughes (tom at compton.nu)
http://www.compton.nu/