About meetings

Legal requirements of meetings

Many meetings have underpinning legal obligations. These may be as general as obeying a police officer's order to disperse, or as specific as requiring a particular type of notice to be given for an annual general meeting.

The body of law pertaining to meetings has evolved in both common law and special Acts of Parliament since the time of King Henry VIII.

Generally, if an organisation has a constitution and replaceable rules, or Articles of Association, these must be complied with.

A company’s Articles of Association are the set of rules that govern the internal operation of that company. They are the company’s by-laws and they deal with matters such as calling of meetings, voter rights, election and removal of directors. Companies don’t have to invent their own Articles of Association—they can use the model ones provided under Australian Corporations law. The Articles of Association have the effect of a contract. [Barron, ML, 1998, Fundamentals of Business Law, 2nd ed, McGraw Hill, Sydney, pp 660-662.]

Failure to do so may be an infringement of law.

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About meetings

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