1. Name and purpose

1.1 The name of the Council shall be 'The Council of British Druid Orders', which may be abbreviated to 'CoBDO'.

1.2 The purposes of the Council are:

To represent the interests of its member Orders in the world generally.
To liaise with non-government organisations (NGOs) which manage national sites of spiritual importance, and with landowners of other such sites, with a view to improving accessibility for spiritual purposes at those sites.
To provide a forum for discussion of issues concerning the Druid movement and the business of member Orders.

2. Member Orders

2.1 Any Druid order may apply for membership of CoBDO on the basis of a copy of their own Constitution or otherwise satisfactory to the Council. Applications may be repeated quarterly.

2.2 Orders which were members of the unconstituted CoBDO on or before Samhain (31 October) 2005 shall be considered de facto to be member Orders. A list of these Orders is appended.

2.3 An Order applying for membership shall send a non-voting delegate to at least two successive quarterly meetings of the Council before the ratification of its full membership is considered by the Council at the next (third) meeting.

2.4 A vote of 2/3 of the whole Council shall be required to ratify membership of a new Order.

2.5 The membership of an Order may be suspended or terminated only by a vote of 2/3 of the whole Council. No membership may be terminated before the end of a continuous period of suspension of four ordinary quarterly meetings. During such a period of suspension the reinstatement, continuance of suspension or termination of membership of the Order in question shall be considered at each ordinary meeting of the Council which occurs therein.

2.6 An Order the membership of which was terminated (2.5) may reapply for membership after a period of four quarterly meetings from the date of termination.

3. Membership of Council

3.1 Each member of the Council shall be a delegated member of a member Order.

3.2 Member Orders may choose to be represented by either their Head (or deputy), or by another delegate appointed for that purpose. The method of appointment in the latter case is the choice of the member Order.

3.3 Each Member of Council may bring with them to its meetings a non-voting deputy, assistant or observer. Additional guests may be accomodated at the discretion of the hosts.

3.4 Members are expected to attend meetings if possible; if not, to submit an apology for absence and make appropriate arrangements for proxy voting.

3.5 Should a Member of the Council fail in this duty (3.4), or others (5.4), or conduct themselves inappropriately during its meetings (5.7), their Order may be required by the Council to provide an alternative delegate.

4. Chair

4.1 The chair shall be held by one member of the Council for a period of four meetings (one year).

4.2 The Council may choose to retain the Chair at the end of this period, or to elect another.

4.3 A deputy Chair shall be elected, to chair meetings in the case of force majeure. The Council shall choose either to retain the deputy Chair, or to elect another, should the incumbent be unable to continue in their appointment.

5. Meetings

5.1 The Council shall meet four times annually, as close as is convenient to the majority of its members to the first Saturday in December, March, June and September (As decided AGM 2007).

5.2 The June meeting shall be recognised as the start of the administrative year, and shall be the Annual General Meeting.

5.3 Each meeting shall be called by the Chair and shall be hosted by those Orders able to do so. The agenda shall be communicated to Members at least two weeks before the date set. The Chair shall list members unable to attend and invite them to arrange for proxy voting.

5.4 Members invited to meetings are expected to communicate that meeting's agenda to their Order and to canvass opinion therein on voting issues before they attend.

5.5 Meetings may, subject to a unanimous vote of no objection, be recorded for transcription or record. Any Member (or their assistant (3.3)) may with that proviso use a reasonable recording device to provide themselves with a record of the meeting.

5.6 Meetings shall be minuted and the minutes made available for timely publication within the member Orders. The Host Order shall provide a scribe if possible; if not, the Chair shall arrange for a substitute. The scribe may be a Member or their deputy (3.3).

5.7 Conduct of meetings shall be orderly, with business conducted through the Chair.

5.8 An extraordinary meeting (other than ordinary quarterly meetings) may be called by any Member with the agreement of three other Members; the Chair shall then make appropriate arrangements.

6. Officers

6.1 It is recognised that some Officers, having particular abilities, are in effect permanent Officers. However, no permanent Officers shall be appointed and all appointments shall be reviewed and confirmed annually at the Annual General Meeting.

6.2 The following Officers shall be appointed by election from among the whole Council:

Liason Officer.
Stonehenge Officer.
Peace Officer.
Conservation Officer.
Reburial Officer.
Welsh Liason officer.
Press Officer.
If necessary, Liaison Officers for other NGOs or landowners.

6.3 Officers shall represent the views of the Council as they are mandated by it to do.

6.4 Arrangements with NGOs etc. shall be reported to the Council for ratification. Officers may not conduct business on their own account.

7. Voting

7.1 Each delegate representing a member Order shall have one vote. In the event only of a tied vote, the Chair shall cast a vote to settle the issue.

7.2 A proxy vote is valid if it is in writing and signed, or communicated to the Chair by an acceptable alternative method. Acceptable methods include conventional e-mail but do not include web-mail or SMS messaging services. Acceptability of telephoned proxies is to be established during the relevant meeting by the Chair, who must be satisfied of the Member's identity.

7.3 Arrangements for proxy voting, if required, are to be made adequately in advance of meetings.