[SCA-AE] Crown Tourney Question/personal banner display?

[David Saia]

Well, I guess I would point out two things:

1.  A fee for a service, such as a fee to pay for the processing of an
heraldic submission is not a donation.  It's a fee.  As Brandubh has
pointed out, it's like going into a restaurant and ordering a meal and
calling your bill a donation.

2.  If one wanted to get technical, it could be noted that the fee for
heraldic submissions doesn't go to the Kingdom treasury.  It goes to the
bank account for the AEthelmearc College of Heralds, which is not the same
as the Kingdom - different bank, different account, different entity, etc.
 Part of the money is used to pay for costs to the College and the rest is
sent to the Society College of Arms to pay for their costs related to the
processing of submissions.  The Kingdom of AEthelmearc doesn't actually
get any of that money.

And, getting more technical still, the arms of AEthelmearc and the badge
of AEthelmearc are not the same thing.  As someone once explained to me,
arms say "I am here;" a badge says, "this is mine."  I don't have a
problem with the Crown telling people that they cannot use the badge of
the Kingdom in a tournament in place of their own individual arms, as
badges are associated with the marking of property.

Someone out there with more knowledge than I will probably post something
to contradict me, but this is my take on it.

Edmund Tregelles

>>You must also be a _paid_ member of the Society in good standing, I
>> believe.  I doubt that would be considered a donation either.
>
> That is a requirement per Corpora and furthermore since those fees go to
> the  Corporate treasury in California and not to the kingdom treasury,
> there is  no issue with membership fees in regards to the section of
> Corpora in  question. IV.F.4 specifies the *kingdom* treasury. Requiring
> donations to  the corporate treasury are not covered under this and
> membership fees to the  corporate treasury are required by all SCA
> officers on whatever level. That  is why when I first brought up the
> issue I specified that if the kingdom's  share of the submission fees,
> not the Laurel office's share, were waived or  reimbursed there would be
> no issue with a Corpora violation. I do think that  is something that
> needs to be clarified in Corpora in the future. Requiring  a for-pay
> service for an office that requires funds to be donated to the  Kingdom
> treasury is a loophole and this policy exploits this loophole. It  needs
> to be closed, one way or another in order to prevent actions far more
> egregious than the relatively trivial one discussed here.
>
> IMO, the purpose of the clause in Corpora in the first place is to
> prevent  compulsory financial requirements for holding an SCA office
> above and beyond  the price of membership. It is part of what has made
> us an inclusive society  instead of an exclusive one, as many other
> reenactment organizations are.  While the heraldic requirement for Crown
> does not break the letter of the  Corpora, as our Seneschal has ruled,
> it certainly breaks its spirit as it is  an imposition of a financial
> donation to the kingdom treasury, no matter how  slight, as a
> requirement for holding office.
>
> Another issue is the prohibition of the use of the Æthelmearc arms by
> the  participants in Crown. I believe that is very clearly a violation
> of  Æthelmearc law.
>
> XI-300: The Badge of AEthelmearc is: Gules, an escarbuncle argent within
> a  bordure Or. This may be displayed by all subjects of AEthelmearc.
>
> I am presuming that the law on the webpage is current and has not been
> yet  been modified in regards to this issue.
>
>
>
> Rich Goranson (Lord Stephan Calvert deGrey)
> Amherst, NY, USA (Barony of the Rhydderich Hael, Æthelmearc)
>
>
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