proj-branchDemocracy-bylaws-glossary

Glossary

A deliberative body is an abstract group entity which can be said to adopt resolutions.

A proposal or measure is a document which is a candidate to become a resolution through adoption by a deliberative body.

A resolution is a document which has been adopted by a deliberative body.

For a deliberative body to adopt a resolution means that the deliberative body metaphorically agrees with, decides, utters, or issues the resolution.

To pass* a resolution is synonymous with adopting it.

An act is a document which can be said to be adopted by the organization. For the organization to enact a document is synonymous with the organization passing it.

Chair, president, external president, executive team member, external executive team member, elect boardmember, delegate boardmember, Parliamentarian, judge, and delegate are offical roles.

An officer or official is a person serving in an official role.

A high official is a chair, CEO, EEO, executive team member, director of a quasi-independent agency, elect boardmember, delegate boardmember, Parliamentarian, or judge.

The Forum, the Elect Board, the external affairs committee of the Elect Board, the Delegate Board, the Executive Team, the Office of Procedure, the High Court, the councils, and the organization as a whole, are deliberative bodies.

The three legislative houses or legislative chambers are the Forum, the Elect Board, and the Delegate Board.

An electoral cycle is a period of time whose length is the electoral cycle duration. There is not one global electoral cycle calendar, but rather, electoral cycles are defined with respect to various events, for instance, elections to the elect board.

A bylaw is a rule found in the Bylaws. A Found Right is a right declared by the Court. A treaty is a contract between the organization and some other entity. A statute is a rule adopted by the organization through a resolution. When one of these terms, or the word "rule" is used herein, it is implicitly taken to refer to a rule within the organization, not a rule imposed by some external authority. For example, as the organization may exist under the jurisdiction of an external government, the use herein of the word "statute" to indicate an internal rule should not be confused with the usual use of the term to indicate a law passed by a government, unless otherwise specified.

Similarly, the word crime as used herein refers only to breaking the rules of the organization, not to actually breaking the law of some external authority.

An officer's portfolio is the set of domains over which that officer has executive authority.

Executive authority is the authority to administer and execute the organization's power, possibly restricted to some domain or domains.

An executive agency is a part of the organization within the executive branch, ultimately answerable to either an executive team member, or the directors of some quasi-independent agency.