The NESFA Code
The NESFA Standing Rules
with Historical Annotations

Last updated on 2024-05-02, incorporating nearly all modifications reported in Instant Message through January 2024 and in the Zoom transcripts of the September 2020 through March 2021 meetings plus some items from the June and July 2019 meetings. Other items from the June and July 2019 and the March 2020 through March 2021 meetings may be missing since the minutes for those meetings have not yet been published.
Additional items already in effect but not yet integrated into this page are here. (That page also includes other material.)

Preface

The purpose of the NESFA Code (also called the Standing Rules) is to provide a convenient single compilation for reference to the following things:

If you find any errors or changes in fiats, or want a new fiat put in, contact a member of the Rules Committee.

There is also an appendix included with the Code. Certain humorous motions that have been passed from time to time have been compiled into Appendix A for your amusement. There was formerly an Appendix B which listed everyone who was ever elected to Office or confirmed in a position requiring approval by the Membership but that information is now included in the Committee History page.

Most rules in the Code are followed by annotations in square brackets and italics [like this] giving their date of passage or other pertinent historical information. These annotations are not themselves part of the rules. [The historical annotations and other comments through 5/94 are by George Flynn, who takes sole responsibility for their accuracy. Thereafter they are by the Rules Committee.] The original edition of the NESFA Code was adopted in July 1971; it was a compilation of earlier rules, some passed by the Membership or the Executive Board, others based on "Tradition" or "Custom." Rules which first appeared in the 1971 Code are annotated as "7/71*". Fiats were first added to the Code in 1972.

The last printed edition of the NESFA Code was published in June 1992; updates were published in January 1993, June 1993, December 1993, and May 1994. An unpublished revision, including all rules passed by the Membership and Executive Board through the May 1994 business meeting plus a few more (to about August 1994), was added to the NESFA website in December 1998 and declared to be the official version.

Section 10.2 of the ByLaws defines several words or phrases to have specific meanings when used in these Standing Rules. Do not assume that you understand anything unless you have reviewed those definitions.

Section I: Officers and Committees

I. Officers and Committees

 

Section II: Finances, Treasury and Finance Committee

II. Finances, Treasury and Finance Committee

 

Section III: Meetings

III. Meetings
[See By-Laws: Article II (meetings).]

 

Section IV: Services

IV. Services

 

Section V: Miscellaneous

V. Miscellaneous

 

Appendix A: Humorous Motions

Appendix A

This appendix is a compilation of not altogether serious motions or fiats that have been passed throughout the history of NESFA, presented for the amusement of readers. Rather than converting them into the form of rules (as was done in previous editions of the NESFA Code), we have left them as they appeared in Instant Message, with enough context to indicate what was going on. Editing has been done only for clarity (e.g., to supply full names). Enjoy.[12/23: All versions of "chair" in the Standing Rules were standardized to just "chair", but this appendix was not changed since it is historical.]



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