General rules from the Memorandum and Articles.

The memorandum and articles of the charitable company  forms part of the rules of New Atlantis, and defines the roles of trustees of the charitable company, and that of the President trusties and some other senior positions.

The charitable company is a non profit company, establish for the benefit of its members and is not allowed to make salary or similar payments to the President or trustees, but the memorandum explains in what circumstances payments can be made.

The memorandum is the purpose and definition while the articles contain the rules connected with elections, holding meetings and appointing people to positions within the charitable company. They were based on a sample set produced by the charity commission in England for a charitable company.

A full copy of the Memorandum and Articles can also be found in the members manual.

All  members attention is drawn specifically to the following:

From the Memorandum;-

          7. Every member of the Charitable Company undertakes to contribute such amount as may be required (not exceeding £100) to the Charitable Company's assets if it should be wound up while he or she is a member, or within two years after he or she ceases to be a member, for payment of the Charitable Company's debts and liabilities contracted before he or she ceases to be a member, and of the costs, charges and expenses of winding up, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributors among themselves.

          8. If the Charitable Company is wound up or dissolved and after all its debts and liabilities have been satisfied there remains any property, it shall not be paid to, or distributed among, the members of the Charitable Company, but shall be given or transferred to some other Charitable Company or charities having Objects similar to the Objects which prohibits the distribution of its or their income and property to an extent at least as great as is imposed on the Charitable Company by Clause 5 above, chosen by the members of the Charitable Company, or its President, at or before the time of dissolution and if that cannot be done then to some other charitable object.

From the Articles

          2.(1).     The subscribers to the memorandum and such other persons, New Atlantis Trusts, or organisations as are admitted to membership in accordance with the rules made under Article 61, shall be members of the Charitable Company.  No person shall be admitted a member of the Charitable Company unless, he agrees to be bound by the rules and his application for membership is approved by the trustees, or by the President.

2.(3)    The trustees may define within the rules, varying grades of membership, and define, which grades and at what point, a member of New Atlantis shall also be considered a full member of the Charitable Company. All other members of New Atlantis being associate members of the Charitable Company and excluded and excused from involvement in the formalities defined by the articles, but subject to the rules. Each member, full and associate, shall have one vote each, the interests and votes of all associate members will be vested with the President, who may exercise them at general or extraordinary general meetings on behalf of the associate members, when he feels appropriate.

          26.   Constitutionally, the President is the head and chief executive of New Atlantis, the virtual country and the Charitable Company. It is both an administrative and ceremonial role, and his duty is to safeguard the founding concepts of New Atlantis, and the interests of associate members, or other minority groups. All new members swear their allegiance to the President, as head of the virtual state. (it then gives details on how presidents are appointed, and what happens if they are unable to perform their duties)

          61.   (1)  The trustees, with the approval of the President, may from time to time make such rules or bye laws as they may deem necessary or expedient or convenient for the proper conduct and management of the Charitable Company and for the purposes of prescribing classes of any conditions of membership, and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, they may by such rules or bye laws regulate :

(a)        the admission and classification of members of the Charitable Company (including the admission of organisations to membership) and the rights and privileges of such members, and the conditions of membership and the terms on which members may resign or have their membership terminated and the entrance fees, subscriptions and other fees or payments to be made by members.

(b)     the conduct of members of the Charitable Company in relation to one another, in and to New Atlantis trusts, and to the Charitable Company's servants;

(c)        the setting aside of the whole or any part or parts of the Charitable Company's premises at any particular time or times or for any particular purpose or purposes;

(d)     the operation or administration of any division, trust group of trusts, or section of the new Atlantis philosophy, virtual county or actual service;

(e)        the roles of all members associated with honour roles, special positions, Presidential appointments, and procedures associated with these.

(f)        the conduct of members in relation to the President, to Presidential instructions, and to the virtual kingdom of New Atlantis.

(g)        the procedure at general meetings and meetings of the trustees and committees of the trustees in so far as such procedure is not regulated by the articles;

(h)        generally, all such matters as are commonly the subject matter of company or club rules;

(i)         the induction of new members;

(j)        any other such topics as the President shall decide should be included.

(2)   The Charitable Company in general meeting, and with the approval of the President, shall have power to alter, add to or repeal the rules or bye laws and the trustees shall adopt such means as they think sufficient to bring to the notice of members of the Charitable Company all such rules or bye laws, which shall be binding on all members of the Charitable Company.  Provided that no rule or bye law shall be inconsistent with, or shall affect or repeal anything contained in, the memorandum or the articles.

(3)  Additions to the rules to cover new areas, services, or other developments can be made by the trustees, in agreement with the President. These additions shall be added to the rule books and need not be circulated to the membership, but annually at least all members should be informed of at least the areas in which rule changes have occurred.

(4)  The President shall have power to alter, add to or repeal the rules and will draw the change to the attention of the trustees as soon as possible, and to the membership as and when he feels appropriate and by whatever means he feels appropriate, which could be by post, or at the next general meeting, or by updating the rule book only or by a notice on the electronic information service (BBS).

(5)     A current copy of the rules will be available at a reasonable price to all members, and any updates or changes will be incorporated at as early a point as possible.

(6)     A current copy of the rules will at all time be displayed on the free on line information service (BBS), and accessible to all grades of members.

Other founding principles.

          The following is a short list of additional principles that should not need saying, but is included for completeness.

          Membership of New Atlantis is open to everyone, with no discrimination of any kind.

          Sexual practices and preferences is a mater for individual citizens, but no person should have to, or be pressured into going along with another's ideas of what is correct or desirable.

          Within New Atlantis, children become young adults when they reach 14, however the rules of the countries within which citizens live may present other age limits.

          Past histories of people who wish to become members for the first time, shall not bar a person from becoming a member, providing that they are now accepting the principles of New Atlantis, agreeing to accept the rules, and to abide by the decisions of the President.

          That all members agree that information necessary for the administration of New Atlantis, trusts, franchises, clubs or other uses may be kept on a computer system, or to pay a fee of £200 per year in advance to cover the unnecessary waste of time involved in keeping record manually as a special case.

          That members recognise that the rules of New Atlantis do not replace the laws of the country in which they reside, or that any part of New Atlantis may operate within. New Atlantis trusts in particular will not be recognised by other states, and so the equivalent formal arrangements in your country may be necessary to run in parallel with the New Atlantis Trust.

          Members of New Atlantis who take the oath and become citizens of New Atlantis then hold duel citizenship. They are not giving up citizenship of there original country.

          New Atlantis is a tax free state.  All members however agree to pay there subscriptions as defined in the rules, on time and by the method specified, and in the event that this is not possible to tender there apologies at as early a point as possible, and to agree how to put the matter right.

          Membership of New Atlantis includes membership of the Bargain and Barter Club and Reports Club.