Debate

 

The Constitution of the Debate Society is known as an uncodified constitution which means that, instead of it all being written on one document, it instead has different sources. Some of them are approved by our members, whilst others happen naturally or are imposed by different individuals/organisations. Below, we outline each of our sources and how they work.

Acts of Session, also known as Society Law, are written pieces that set out binding instructions or clauses onto the society, normally on a specific area (e.g. the Committee or debates). Acts of Session can be complex, and so will normally be accompanied with a short description of what the act does.

These are a product of the Constitutional Complaint Process. Judgements are just the written decisions of the adjudicator of any constitutional complaint and are binding to the whole society. As there is an appeal process with the CCP, judgements can be overturned or changed as it gets appealed and so will have a different effect on the society.

Conventions are just repeated and common behaviours within the society that end up becoming a part of the way the society functions. When in place, conventions can then only be changed by either an Act of Session or when a judgement or superior order requires it to be changed. The following is a list of our current conventions:

  1. The Committee of the Society must afford members a level of privilege of protection from external pressure, and so should ensure that no member’s name is revealed to any individual or organization unless absolutely necessary
  2. Political Party Groups are given a high level of autonomy and this means that they should also be offered some level of secrecy and protection from committee interference. In order to allow such, only the Speakers are permitted to access all the chats and must not share information discussed between other PPGs or society members.
  3. General discussion motions, which are motions that talk about broad non-specific questions, can only be submitted by Speakers of the Society in two circumstances, either when an online chat debate is too controversial that it needs to be done in a formal atmosphere or where multiple submitted motions are linked together that it is best to make them a general discussion motion.

Superior Orders is just our fancy name for documents, or decisions, that originate from organisations that oversee us. These may include the Union of Students and the University of Derby as well as English Law.

With Judgements and Superior Orders, we have to follow what is called the Doctrine of Precedence which is just a fancy word for who has more of a say than others. 

  1. In the first level is the Vice President Speaker who is invested with the power to uphold the Constitution is upheld and is followed by the CRRA. This means that in most Constitutional Complaints the VPS will be the adjudicator and will only administer the constitution, not subjective views.
  2. The next level is the President Speaker who has implied and explicit power to not only ensure the constitution is upheld but also to ensure that the VPS acted correctly in their decision. Therefore, the President Speaker will act as an Appeal for the Constitutional Complaint process.
  3. The third level is the Union of Students which is a superior body to the society (as we work under them). This means they will act as the last stage of appeal for constitutional complaints but also have the power to unilaterally place restrictions on our society.
  4. The fourth level is then the University of Derby which is the superior body to us, because we are students under the University, as well as the Union of Students in some areas. Whilst the University is not involved in the Constitutional Complaint Process, they do have the power to place restrictions on our society.
  5. The final level is English and UK Law which we are required to follow.