No person can be a member of the Council until he has attained the age of 21 years complete. The corrupt payment of any Registration Fee is punishable as Bribery. The General Council holds two statutory meetings in each year, viz., on the Saturday after the second Tuesday in April and in October. Under the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889, the Council may also hold special meetings at the instance of the Chancellor, who shall convene such meetings on a requisition from a quorum of members, and the Council may adjourn any meeting, and may appoint committees to investigate into and report upon any matter remitted to them, or to carry out instructions given to them by the Council. Under the same Act, the quorum of the General Council has been fixed by the Commissioners at ten for every complete thousand, or fraction of a thousand, of members on the register, but this provision does not apply to the statutory half-yearly meetings. The General Council elects the Chancellor. To the University Court as constituted under the Act of 1858, it elected one Assessor. By the Act of 1889 three have been added, making now four Assessors from the Council. Each Assessor holds office for four years, two retiring biennially. They are eligible for re-election. No member of the Senatus is entitled to vote or take part in the election of any Assessor of the General Council. When a Poll is demanded at an election for the Assessorships, the votes are taken by means of voting letters issued to the Members by the Registrar, and these letters must be returned to him within twenty-one days. The Council is empowered by the Universities Act of 1858, "to take into consideration all questions affecting the well-being and prosperity of the University, and to make representations from time to time on such questions to the University Court, who shall consider the same, and return to the Council their deliverance thereon ". The President of the General Council is the Chancellor,-failing whom, the Rector,-failing whom, the Principal,-failing whom, the Chancellor's Assessor,-failing whom the Rector's Assessor,failing whom, a Chairman elected by the meeting; provided that no member of Senatus preside at any meeting held for the purpose of electing Assessors. The Register of the Council is made up annually in the month of December, for the year beginning the 1st of January next ensuing. See Appendix A to CALENDAR. UNIVERSITY COURT. By the Universities Act of 1858, the University Court consisted of six members, and was vested with the following powers: "1. To review all decisions of the Senatus Academicus, and to be a Court of Appeal from the Senatus in every case, except as otherwise provided in the Universities Act. "2. To effect improvements in the internal arrangements of the University, after due communication with the Senatus Academicus, and with the sanction of the Chancellor, provided that all such proposed improvements shall be submitted to the University Council for their consideration. "3. To require due attention on the part of the Professors to Regulations as to the mode of Teaching, and other duties imposed on the Professors. "4. To fix and regulate, from time to time, the fees in the several Classes. 5. Upon sufficient cause shown, and after due investigation, to censure a Principal or Professor, or to suspend him from his office and from the emoluments thereof, in whole or in part, for any period not exceeding one year, or to require him to retire from his office on a retiring allowance, or to deprive him of his office; and during the suspension of any Professor, to make due provision for the teaching of his class: Provided always, that no such sentence of censure, suspension, or deprivation, or requisition on a Professor to retire from office, shall have any effect until it has been approved by Her Majesty in Council. "6. To inquire into and control the administration by the Senatus Academicus or Principal and Professors of any College, of the revenue, expenditure, and all the pecuniary concerns of the University and of any College therein, including funds mortified for Bursaries and other purposes." By the Universities Act, of 1889, the Court was enlarged by the presence of additional Assessors from the Senatus Academicus and the General Council, and by the introduction of representatives from the Town Council of Aberdeen. Its powers were also greatly extended, mainly by the transference to it from the Senatus of the administration of the property and revenues of the University. These powers, subject to any Ordinances made by the Commissioners, are thus defined in the Act :"(1.) To administer and manage the whole revenue and property of the University, and the college or colleges thereof existing at the passing of this Act, including the share appropriated to such University out of the annual grant hereinafter mentioned, and also including funds mortified for bursaries and other purposes, and to appoint factors or collectors, to grant leases, to draw rents, and generally to have all the powers necessary for the management and administration of the said revenue and property: : "(2.) To review any decision of the Senatus Academicus on a matter within its competency which may be appealed against by a member of the Senatus, or other member of the University having an interest in the decision, within such time as may be fixed by the Commissioners, and to take into consideration all representations and reports made to it by the Senatus Academicus and by the General Council: 3.) To review, on representation made by any of its members, or by any member of the Senatus Academicus, within such time as may be fixed by the Commissioners, any decision which the Senatus Academicus may come to in the exercise of its powers under section seven, sub-section one [i.e., in the regulation and superintendence of the teaching and discipline of the University]: Provided always, that the University Court shall not review any decision of the Senatus Academicus in a matter of discipline, except upon appeal taken either by a member of the Senatus or by a member of the University directly affected by such decision : "(4.) To appoint professors whose chairs are, or may come to be, in the patronage of the University; to appoint examiners and lecturers; and to grant recognition to the teaching of any college or individual teacher for the purposes of graduation, under any regulations on the subject laid down by the Commissioners, which regulations after the expiration of their powers may from time to time be modified or altered by the Universities Committee: (5.) To define on application by any member of the Senatus Academicus the nature and limits of a professor's duties under his commission, subject to appeal to the Universities Committee: "(6.) To take proceedings against a principal or professor, University lecturer, assistant, recognised teacher or examiner, or any other person employed in teaching or examining under section twelve, sub-section five, of the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1858, without the necessity of any one not a member of the Court appearing as prosecutor, and for the purposes of such proceedings to call before it any member of the University to give evidence, and to require the production of documents, and also to institute and conduct any such inquiries as it may deem necessary : "(7.) To appoint from among members of the University or others, not being members of the Senatus Academicus, one third of the members of any standing committee or committees charged, by ordinance of the Commissioners under this Act, with the immediate superintendence of any libraries or museums, or the contents thereof, belonging to the University and college or colleges thereof existing at the passing of this Act, and on representation made by any of its members, or by any member of the Senatus Academicus, to review any decision which the Senatus Academicus, in the exercise of its powers, may come to in respect of the recommendations of such committee or committees : "(8.) To appoint committees of its own number consisting of not less than five members, with powers to report on any business that may be entrusted to them by the University Court, or to carry out special instructions ordered by the University Court: "(9.) To elect the representative of the University on the General Medical Council under the Medical Act, 1886: "(10.) After the expiration of the powers of the Commission to found new pro fessorships with the approval of the Universities Committee, and after such expiration no new professorship shall be founded except as herein provided." The University Court as now constituted consists of the following members:-1. The Rector. 2. The Principal. 3. The Lord Provost of Aberdeen for the time being. 4. An Assessor nominated by the Chancellor. 5. An Assessor nominated by the Rector. 6. An Assessor nominated by the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of Aberdeen. 7. Four Assessors elected by the General Council. 8. Four Assessors elected by the Senatus Academicus. 9. Such number, not exceeding four in all, of Representatives of Affiliated Colleges as may be appointed under and subject to the arrangements made in terms of Sect. XV., Subsect. (4) of the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889. The Rector may, before he appoints his Assessor, confer with the Students' Representative Council. The Rector and his Assessor continue in office for three, the other Assessors for four years; but all Assessors are eligible for re-election. No Principal or Professor of any University can be elected Rector or nominated or elected Assessor to any other person or body than the Senatus Academicus. The Rector, and, in his absence, the Principal, presides; in the absence of both, a chairman is elected by the meeting. The chairman at any meeting has a deliberative vote and also a casting vote in case of equality. Seven members form a quorum. The University Court has the patronage of the Chairs of Mathematics, of Natural Philosophy, of Law, of Chemistry, and of Forensic Medicine. The appointments of Assistants to Professors are made by it on the recommendation of the Professors. It decides (and its decisions are final) on all appeals regarding the registration of Members of the General Council, and it has also the power of fixing from time to time the amount and period of payment of the fee from Graduates for enrolment on the General Council. Note. The ordinary meetings of the Court are held on the second Tuesday of every month, except April, August and September. The Standing Orders require that business intended for such meetings must be communicated to the Secretary not later than 10 A.M. on the Thursday preceding. Members of the University Court since its Constitution in 1860 up to 1890. RECTOR'S ASSESSOR. John Webster, of Edgehill, LL.D., 1860, 1863, 1866, 1869, 1872, 1875, 1878, 1881, 1881, 1887. Members of the University Court since its Re-con stitution in 1890. RECTOR. The Marquis of Huntly, P.C., LL.D., Charles Thomson Ritchie, P.C., M.P., Sir Frederick Treves, Bart., G.C. V.O., C.B., F.R.C.S., LL.D., Andrew Carnegie, LL.D., WINSTON L. S. CHURCHILL, P.C., M.P., 1890, 1893, 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 PRINCIPAL. Sir Wm. D. Geddes, LL.D., D.Litt., 1885 Very Rev. John Marshall Lang, C.V.O., D.D., LL.D., 1900 Very Rev. Sir GEORGE ADAM SMITH, D.D., LL.D. Litt.D., 1909 |