Décision No 1216 du Conseil permanent
There shall continue to be a Chief Registrar of friendly societies (in this Act called " the Chief Registrar ") and one or more assistant registrars of friendly societies for the central registration area.
The Chief Registrar and assistant registrars of friendly societies for the central registration area shall constitute the central office of the registry of friendly societies.
There shall continue to be an assistant registrar of friendly societies for Scotland (in this Act called the " assistant registrar for Scotland ").
The central office may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, have attached to it such assistants skilled in the business of an actuary and an accountant as may be required for discharging the duties imposed on the office by this Act.
The Chief Registrar shall be a barrister of not less than twelve years' standing or a person who has held the office of assistant registrar for not less than five years.
One at least of the assistant registrars of friendly societies for the central registration area shall be a barrister or solicitor of not less than seven years' standing.
The assistant registrar for Scotland shall be an advocate, writer to the signet or solicitor of not less than seven years standing.
The Chief and every assistant registrar shall be appointed by, and shall hold his office during the pleasure of, the Treasury.
Except in so far as this Act otherwise provides, the assistant registrars shall be subordinate to the Chief Registrar.
There shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament—
to the Chief and assistant registrars such salaries or other remunerations as the Minister for the Civil Service may allow; and
any expenses which may be incurred for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
For the purposes of this Act there shall be two registration areas, that is to say,—
the area consisting of England and Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man ; and
Scotland.
Any reference in this Act to the central registration area is a reference to the area specified in subsection (1)(a) above.
Within the registration areas for which they are respectively appointed, the assistant registrars shall exercise all functions and powers given by this Act to the registrar and may also, by the written authority of the Chief Registrar, exercise such of the functions and powers given by this Act to the Chief Registrar as he may delegate to them.
Subject to any Treasury regulations, the assistant registrar for Scotland shall—
send to the central office copies of all such documents registered or recorded by him as the Chief Registrar may direct; and
record such documents and matters as may be sent to him for record from the central office and such other documents and matters as are in this Act required to be recorded ; and
circulate and publish, or transmit to or from societies registered in Scotland from or to the central office, such information and documents relating to the purposes of this Act as the Chief Registrar may, with the approval of the Treasury, direct; and
report his proceedings to the Chief Registrar as he may direct.
The assistant registrar for Scotland shall not refuse to record any rules or amendment of rules which have been registered by the central office.
The Chief Registrar shall every year make a report— and that report shall be laid before Parliament.
of his proceedings and of those of the assistant registrars;
of the principal matters transacted by him and them; and
of the valuations returned to the registrar during the year preceding;
The central office shall, with the approval of the Treasury, collect from the returns under this Act and from other sources and publish and circulate, either generally or in any particular district, or otherwise make known, such information on the subject of statistics of life and sickness and the application thereof to the business of friendly societies, such particulars of their returns and valuations and such other information useful to the members of, or to persons interested in, societies registered or capable of being registered under this Act, as the Chief Registrar may think fit.
Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below and also to section 9 below, the following societies may be registered under this Act, that is to say,—
societies (in this Act called " friendly societies") for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions of the members, with or without the aid of donations, for any of the purposes specified in Schedule 1 to this Act;
societies (in this Act called " cattle insurance societies ") for the purpose of insurance to any amount against loss of cattle, sheep, lambs, swine, horses, and other animals by death from disease or otherwise;
societies (in this Act called " benevolent societies ") for any benevolent or charitable purpose;
societies (in this Act called "working men's clubs") for purposes of social intercourse, mutual helpfulness, mental and moral improvement and rational recreation;
societies (in this Act called " old people's home societies ") for the purpose of providing homes for the members and others at any age after fifty ;
societies (in this Act called " specially authorised societies ") for any purpose which the Treasury may authorise as a purpose to which the provisions of this Act, or such of them as are specified in the authority, ought to be extended.
A society may not be registered under this Act unless—
the rules of the society contain provisions in respect of the several matters mentioned in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act and, in the case of a friendly society or cattle insurance society, also contain provisions in respect of the several matters mentioned in Part II of that Schedule; and
the place which under the society's rules is to be the society's registered office is situated in the central registration area or in Scotland ; and
the society consists of at least seven persons.
A friendly society or branch thereof may not be registered under this Act if it contracts with any person for the assurance of an annuity or of a gross sum in excess of the limits in section 64 below.
Where any provisions of this Act are specified in an authority given under paragraph (f) of subsection (1) above, those provisions only shall extend to a society which has been registered as a specially authorised society by virtue of that authority.
An application to register a society under this Act shall be signed by seven members and the secretary of the society and shall be sent to the registrar.
Together with an application under subsection (1) above there shall be sent copies of the rules of the society and a list of the names of the secretary and of every trustee or other officer intended to be authorised to sue and be sued on behalf of the society.
A society shall not be registered under a name identical with that under which any other existing society is registered, or so nearly resembling that name as to be likely, or in any name likely, in the opinion of the registrar, to deceive the members or the public as to its nature or its identity or in any name which in his opinion is otherwise undesirable.
A society which is neither a benevolent society nor a working men's club shall not be disentitled to registration by reason of any rule for, or practice of, dividing any part of the funds thereof, if the rules of the society contain distinct provision for meeting all claims upon the society existing at the time of the division before any such division takes place.
A society assuring a certain annuity shall not be entitled to registration unless the tables of contribution for the assurance, certified by a qualified actuary, are sent to the registrar with the application for registration.
In this Act " qualified actuary " means an actuary having such qualifications as the Chief Registrar may prescribe by regulations made under this section.
Subsection (2) below shall have effect where a registered society whose registered office is situated in one of the registration areas for the purposes of this Act carries on, or intends to carry on, business in the other of those areas.
The society shall not be entitled in that other area to any of the privileges of this Act as a registered society until a copy of the registered rules of the society has been sent by the society to, and those rules have been recorded by, the registrar for that other registration area; and any registered amendment of the rules so recorded shall not have effect in that other area until a copy of that amendment has been so sent and the amendment so recorded.
Where a society has branches, the application for registration shall be accompanied by—
a list of all the branches and notice of the place where the registered office of each branch, to which all communications and notices may be addressed, is to be situated;
if any branch is to have trustees or officers authorised to sue and be sued on its behalf, other than the trustees or officers authorised to sue and be sued on behalf of the society, a list of the names of all such trustees or officers, distinguishing the branches for which they are authorised to sue and be sued; and
two copies of all branch rules.
A society having a fund under the control of a central body to which every branch is bound to contribute may be registered as a single society, and where any such society has branches in more than one registration area, section 10 above shall apply to that society.
There shall be sent to the registrar, under the hand of the secretary of a registered society,—
notice of the establishment of every new branch of the society;
notice of the place where the registered office of the branch, to which all communications and notices may be addressed, is to be situated ;
if the branch is to have trustees or officers authorised to sue and be sued on its behalf, other than the trustees or officers authorised to sue and be sued on behalf of the society, a list of the names of those trustees or officers; and
two copies of the rules of the branch.
A society shall not be entitled to any of the privileges of this Act as a registered society with respect to a branch until the branch has been registered in the registration area in which the registered office of the branch is to be situated.
A body which has been registered as a branch of a society shall not be registered as a society except on production to the registrar of a certificate, under the hand of the chief secretary or other principal officer of the society of which it was a branch, that the body has wholly seceded or has been expelled from the society.
If the chief secretary or other principal officer of a society— an appeal shall lie to the High Court or, in Scotland, to the Court of Session.
refuses to grant a certificate under this section, or
fails to do so within three months from the receipt of a request in writing made on behalf of the body in question,
A body which, having been a branch of a society, has wholly seceded or been expelled from that society, shall not thereafter use the name of that society or any name implying that it is a branch thereof, or the number by which it was designated as such a branch.
On being satisfied that a society or branch has complied with the provisions of this Act as to registration, the registrar shall issue to that society or branch an acknowledgment of registration which, in the case of a society, shall specify the designation thereof according to the classification in section 7 above.
An acknowledgment under subsection (1) above shall be conclusive evidence that the society or branch therein mentioned is duly registered under this Act, unless it is proved that the registration of the society or, in the case of a branch, the society of which it is a branch, has been suspended or cancelled.
Appeals shall lie from a refusal to register a society or branch as follows:—
if the central office refuse to register a society or branch, the society or branch may appeal to the High Court; and
if the assistant registrar for Scotland refuses to register a society or branch, the society or branch may appeal to the Chief Registrar and, if he refuses, to the Court of Session.
If a refusal to register a society or branch is overruled on appeal, the registrar shall give an acknowledgment of registration under section 15 above to the society or branch.
An acknowledgment of the registration of a society or branch under section 15 above shall also constitute an acknowledgment, and be conclusive evidence, of the registration of the rules of the society or branch in force at the date of the registration of the society or branch.
Subject to subsection (2) below, any amendment of the rules of a society or branch as for the time being registered under this Act shall not be valid until the amendment has been so registered, and for this purpose copies of the amendment, signed by three members and the secretary of the society or of the branch, as the case may be, shall be sent to the registrar.
Subsection (1) above shall not apply to a change in the situation of the registered office of a society or branch, but—
notice of any change in the situation of the registered office of a society or branch shall be sent to the registrar and, in the case of a change in the situation of the registered office of a branch, shall be sent to the registrar through an officer appointed in that behalf by the society of which the branch forms part; and
where notice of such a change is sent to the registrar under paragraph (a) above, he shall register it as an amendment of the rules of the society or branch concerned.
On being satisfied that any amendment of the registered rules of a society or branch is not contrary to the provisions of this Act, the registrar shall issue to the society or branch, in respect of that amendment, an acknowledgment of registration which shall be conclusive evidence that the amendment is duly registered.
Appeals shall lie from a refusal to register an amendment of a rule of a registered society or branch as follows:—
if the central office refuse to register the amendment, the society or branch may appeal to the High Court; and
if the assistant registrar for Scotland refuses to register the amendment, the society or branch may appeal to the Chief Registrar and, if he refuses, to the Court of Session.
If a refusal to register an amendment of a rule is overruled on appeal, the registrar shall give an acknowledgment of registration under section 19 above to the society or branch.
Every registered society or branch shall deliver to any person on demand, on payment of a sum not exceeding 10p, a copy of the rules of the society or branch.
The rules of— shall bind the society or branch and the members thereof, and all persons claiming through them, to the same extent as if each member had subscribed his name and affixed his seal thereto, and as if there were contained in the rules a covenant on the part of himself and his executors or administrators to conform to the rules subject to the provisions of this Act.
a registered cattle insurance society or branch, and
such specially authorised societies or branches thereof as the Treasury may allow to take the benefit of this section,
All sums of money payable by a member to a society or branch falling within subsection (1) above shall be deemed to be a debt due from the member to the society or branch and shall be recoverable as such in the county court for the district in which the member resides.
In the application of this section to Scotland, in subsection (1) the words " and affixed his seal" shall be omitted, and in subsection (2) for the words " in the county court for the district " there shall be substituted the words " before the sheriff of the sheriffdom ".
The rules of a registered society or branch may provide for the reinsurance, to such extent as may from time to time be approved by a qualified actuary, of risks of any class against which persons are, or are to be, insured by that society or branch.
The rules of a registered society which is a specially authorised society complying with the provisions of subsection (3) below may provide that it may receive deposits and borrow money at interest from its members or from other persons, and upon the registration of such a rule the same shall be valid.
A specially authorised society complies with the provisions of this subsection if it has for its object the creation of funds to be lent out to the members of the society or for their benefit, and has in its rules provisions—
that no part of its funds shall be divided by way of profit, bonus, dividend or otherwise among its members; and
that all money lent to members shall be applied to such purpose as the society or its committee may approve.
Every registered society and branch shall have one or more trustees.
The trustees shall be appointed at a meeting of the society or branch and by a resolution of a majority of the members present and entitled to vote at that meeting.
The society or branch shall send to the registrar a copy of every resolution appointing a trustee, signed by the trustee so appointed and by the secretary of the society or branch.
In the case of the appointment of a trustee of a branch, the copy of the resolution referred to in subsection (3) above shall be sent to the registrar through an officer appointed in that behalf by the society of which the branch forms part.
The same person may not be secretary or treasurer of a registered society or branch and also a trustee of that society or branch.
A minor shall not be a member of the committee, or a trustee, manager or treasurer, of a registered society or branch.
If any such list as is referred to in section 8(2), section 11(1)(b) or section 12(1)(c) above is signed by every trustee and other officer named in the list, and in the case of the list referred to in section 8(2) by the secretary of the society, and in the case of the list referred to in section 11(1)(b) or 12(1)(c) by the secretary of the branch, then on the registration of the society or branch the list shall be evidence that the persons named in the list have been duly appointed.
If the rules of a registered society or branch so require, then before taking upon himself the execution of his office, every officer of the registered society or branch having the receipt or charge of money shall give security in accordance with subsection (2) below, in such sum as the society or branch directs, conditioned for his rendering a just and true account of all sums of money received and paid by him on account of the society or branch at such times as its rules appoint, or as the society or branch or the trustees or committee thereof require him to do, and for the payment by him of all sums due from him to the society or branch.
Where an officer of a registered society is required to give security in accordance with subsection (1) above, he shall do so either—
by becoming bound with one sufficient surety at the least in a bond in that one of the forms set out in Schedule 3 to this Act which is appropriate; or
by giving the security of a guarantee society.
In the application of this section to Scotland, for the reference in subsection (2)(a) above to a surety there shall be substituted a reference to a cautioner.
Every officer of a registered society or branch having the receipt or charge of money shall— render an account as may be required by the society or branch, or by the trustees or committee of the society or branch, to be examined and allowed or disallowed by them and shall, on demand or on notice as in paragraph (c) above, pay over all sums of money and deliver all property in his hands or custody to such person as the society or branch, or the committee or the trustees, may appoint.
at such times as he is required to do so by the rules of the society or branch, or
on demand, or
on notice in writing requiring him to do so given or left at his last or usual place of residence,