INTERNATIONAL GUNDOG LEAGUE

The Sporting Spaniel Society

Constitutional Rules

1. The name of the Society shall be "The Sporting Spaniel Society," its objects being to encourage the working qualities of Spaniels in every possible way, the breeding of them upon working lines, and the judging of them at shows from a working standpoint. All varieties of Sporting Spaniels, English and Irish Water, Norfolk, Clumber, Sussex, Black Springer, and Cocker Spaniels, and any other varieties of Spaniels used with the gun, shall be fostered and encouraged by this Society. It shall, if possible, hold a series of working Trials.

2. The Society shall consist of an unlimited number of members, whose names and addresses shall be kept by the Secretary in a book, which book shall be kept open to the inspection of members at reasonable times. Any respectable person favourable to the objects of the Society is eligible for admission as a member. Each candidate for admission must be proposed by one member and seconded by another member. The election of members shall be vested solely in the Committee and shall be by ballot, three members to form a quorum, and two black balls to exclude.

3. The annual subscription for each member shall be one guinea, payable on 1st January in each year. Anyone failing to pay his subscription by 31st January shall have notice given him by the Secretary, and if his subscription be still unpaid on 31st March, his rights of membership shall cease until he has paid his subscription. By non-payment of his subscription, a member renders himself liable to be struck off the list of members. No new member shall be entitled to enjoy the privileges of members until he has paid his subscription. This rule will be strictly enforced. Life membership may be acquired upon payment in a lump sum of ten guineas. The payment of the first subscription of any member elected after the 30th June in any year will cover the period up to the 31st December next after the following 31st December.

4. The affairs of the Society shall be conducted by a President, Vice-President and a Committee consisting of twelve members. All officers of the Society shall be honorary, and no member may make the Society a means of private speculation, or trade in any way whatever, and if found to have done so, he is liable to expulsion.

5. That the property and management of the Society be vested in the Committee jointly, which shall have power to call meetings of the Society, to make necessary bye-laws, to arbitrate in disputed matters, to refuse the admission of any person deemed objectionable, and to expel any member guilty of dishonourable conduct; after such expulsion, the member so expelled to have no claim whatever against the Society, or to be entitled to recover any portion of his subscription. Any member of this Society, who has been declared by the Kennel Club Committee incapable of competing for, or winning a prize at a Show under Kennel Club Rules for any period shall cease to be a member of the Society. The Committee shall also have power to deal with any question not provided for by the Rules. The Committee shall decide upon the value and nature of the prizes to be offered during the year.

6. Meetings of the Society shall be held as occasion shall require for the transaction of business. A meeting may be specially convened by the Secretary on receipt of a written requisition signed by not less than six members, stating the time, place, and object of such meeting, to be lodged with the Secretary at least a fortnight previous to the date fixed for such meeting to take place. An Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held in London, if possible in May or June, and at the said meeting the whole of the Committee in office shall retire, the retiring members being eligible for re-election. Any member not being able to attend this meeting, and wishing to vote at the election of officers, can do so by proxy. But the proxy paper, properly filled up, must be lodged with the Secretary at least forty-eight hours before the meeting, and no person can be nominated a proxy unless he be a member of the Society. The Committee shall have power to appoint sub-committees for any special object. The Committee and officers shall stand elected from one Annual General Meeting to another.

7. All the Officers shall be annually elected at the Annual General Meeting, and their duties shall be purely honorary.

8. The minutes of the last Meeting shall be read at the commencement of, and be approved and confirmed by the next subsequent similar Meeting. The Chairman shall have a casting vote in addition to his own. Notice of a General Meeting shall be sent to each member at least seven days previous to the date fixed for such Meeting to take place, and with the notice shall be stated a list of the business to be transacted, and copies of all proposed resolutions shall accompany the notice. The Honorary Solicitor to be ex officio member of the Committee.

9. All authorised expenses incurred by the Officers on behalf of the Society shall be defrayed out of the funds of the Society. The Society's Rules, and its Prize Lists, together with the names of its Committee and Officers, and a List of the members and their addresses shall be printed and supplied to each member. The accounts shall be presented at the Annual Meeting duly audited by two auditors appointed at the Annual Meeting.

10. Any member can withdraw from the Society on giving notice to the Secretary (such member to have no claim whatever on the Society), provided always that such member shall be liable for his subscription for the current year in which he gives such notice.

The Sporting Spaniel Society

Regulations (subject to Alteration)

1. In Single Stakes for Spaniels, the order of running shall be decided at the Draw. At the end of the first round the Judges will call up, at their own discretion, any dogs they require further, and run them as they choose. The Judges will, except in a case of undoubted lack of merit, try each Spaniel for at least fifteen minutes in the first round, but they can carry on the trial of two dogs simultaneously, not ordering down together two dogs worked by the same person or belonging to the same owner. All shooting will be done by guns appointed by the Committee.

2. In Brace and Team Stakes the order of running in the first round shall be decided by lot, and the dogs composing a brace or team must belong to the same owner. No dog shall form part of more than one brace or team at the same Meeting, and only one man at a time shall work any brace or team.

3. In all Stakes the Spaniels shall be regularly shot over in the customary sporting manner, and may be worked up and down wind, and on feather and fur.

4. In all Stakes the principal points to be considered by the Judges are scenting power, keenness, perseverance, obedience, freedom from chase, dropping to shot, style, method of beating and working to the gun—whether in cover, hedgerow, or the open. In Single Stakes, besides, the Spaniels are expected to retrieve at command as required—tenderly, quickly and right up to the hand; and any additional excellence, such as dropping to hand and shot, standing to their game and flushing it at command, etc., will be taken into account; while in Brace or Team Stakes they are expected to beat their ground harmoniously together. In all Stakes with puppies under twelve months old, the retrieving of fur shall be optional.

5. Any dog not present to run in its turn, the Committee reserve the right of disqualifying at the expiration of fifteen minutes.

6. The Judges are empowered to first caution, and, upon repetition of the offence, turn out of the Stake the dog of any person who does not beat the ground to their satisfaction; to withhold a prize when, in their opinion, no merit is shown; and to exclude from competition bitches on heat, or any animals they may think unfit to compete. The entry fees of all such dogs will be forfeited.

7. An objection to a dog may be lodged with the Secretary at any time within seven days of a Meeting, upon the objector depositing with the Secretary the sum of £2, which shall be forfeited if the Committee deem such objection frivolous. All objections must be made in writing.

8. The Committee have the power, if they think fit, to refuse any entries for the Society's Trials without assigning any reason for their action.

9. In the event of the weather being considered by the Judges unsuitable for holding the Trials, it shall be in their power to postpone the Meeting from day to day until the Saturday following the first day of the Trials, on which day the Stakes not already decided shall be abandoned and their entry fees returned.

10. The Committee reserve to themselves the right to abandon the Meeting at any time, on returning their entry monies to the competitors, and if, from unforeseen circumstances, they deem it advisable to alter the date of the Meeting after the closing of the entries, this may be done by sending formal notice to all competitors, who may exercise the option of cancelling their entries within four days from the date of such notice, in which event their entry fees will be returned to them. All entries, however, in regard to which no such option is exercised, will stand good for the Meeting at its altered date.

11. If an advertised Judge be unable to fulfil his engagement for the whole or part of the Meeting, the Committee shall appoint any other person to judge, or shall make any other arrangements that to them seem desirable.

12. The decisions of the Committee present shall, in all matters arising at the Meetings, be final and conclusive, and shall bind all parties.