Article XIII. Commission of Adjudication

Article XIII. Commission Of Adjudication

Sec. 1.

a. The Commission of Adjudication shall consist ot three

ordained Indian ministers, three ordained missionaries and

three laymen'learned in the doctrine and practice of the

church, élécsted td térms of six years by the convention from panels submitted by the Executive Council Nominations from the fioot of the convention shall not be permitted. Members are eligible for re-election. Unexpired terms shall be filled, except as provided by Sec. 3.

b. below, by election by the Executive Council upon nomination by the Committee on Nominations and Credentials of the Executive Council. Nominations from the floor of the Executive Council shall ba permitted. Provision shall be made for continuity of the membership, so that at each biennial convention of the Church the terms of one ordained Indian minister, one ordained missionary and one layman shall expire.

b. When the Commission of Adjudication serves as an interim emergency body, as prescribed in Sec. 3. b. of this article, the following persons shall be added to its membership.

A represgntative of the National Christian Council who is not a member of the A.E.L. Church.

A representative of the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India who is not a member of the A E.L. Church Southern Asia Secretary of the Division of World Mission and Ecumenism of the Lutheran Church in America.

Sec. 2. THE METHOD OF OPERATION SHALL BE AS FOLLOWS:

a. The commission shall elect its own officers, who shall be a chairman and a recording secretary and who shall serve for five-year terms or any portion of such period as their membership on the comission shall permit. The chairman shall be an ordained man. The ejections shall nosmally be conducted in JanuBiry at five-year Intervals or ad intetim wilen necessary. Pérsons ¢hosen as officers at such interim elections shall serve out the unexpired portion of the five-yeer term. Persons having served as officers shall be eligible for re-election. The meeting at which the first chairman is to be elected under this constitution shall be called for and presided over by the president of the A. E. L. Church.

b. Meetings shall be called by the chairman when necessary for the transaction of business and two weeks' notice of the time of meetings shall be given to the members In case the term of.he chairman has expired before his successor has been elected, the president of the church shall convene a mesting for the purpose of electing the chairman except as provided in Sec. 3. b. below.

c. The consent of at least two thirds of the members shall always be necessary for a decision.

d. Decisions of the commission shall be reported to the Executive Council and to the convention and those decisions concerning doctrine or general principle and practice shall be published in the A. E. L. Church magazine. Decisions and judgments of the commission shal be binding upon the whele Church including ite subsidiary bodies and institutions,

e. An appeal against a detision of the commission may be made coricerning matters laid down in Sec. 3. a by a two. thirds majority vote of a synod convention, by a two-thirds vote of the Executive Council or by a majority vote of ga convention of the Church. When such an appeal is made, it shall be brought before and acted upon by a joint mesting of the Executive Council and the Commission of Adjudication which shall be presided over by the chairman of the Commission of Adjudication and a three-fourths majority vote of the joint meeting shall be required to change the decision of the commission. Any decision of such a joint meeting of the Executive Council and the Commission of Adjudication shall be final and binding and shall lie outside the jurisdiction of the courts outside the A. E. L. Church.

Sec. 3. THE DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THIS COMMISSION SHALL BE:

8. To serve as a court to which shall be referred for decision questions of doctrine, principle or practice, including questions involving disputed jurisdiction or the interpratation of powers claimed by this Church its officers or any of its Subsidiary bodies or institutions.

Any of the above matters may be referred to this Commission by one-third of the delegates to a convention of this Church, whether in session or not, by the Executive Council or by the convention or Executive Committee of asynod. Any ten members of the Executive Council may also make reference to the Commission of Adjudication of any matter of disputed jurisdiction or the intespretation of powers claimed by this Church, its officers or any of its subsidiary bodies or institutions. Any matters other than those mentioned in this section shall not come to tis comm ssion but shall be dealt with under other provisions. including that for appeals, under the constitution, by laws and enactments of 'this Church and its subsidiary bodies.

b. To serve as an interim body to conduct through the chairman of tne commission the routine administration of the Church, including the initiation of action for the election of a president and the calling for a convention of the Church in the event of the inability of the convention to elect a president before the expiry of the term of the out going president or in the event that the regularly elected officers are prevented from performing their constitutionally prescribed duties. This emergency interim administation shall be undertaken only with the approval of the representative of the National Christian Council, the representive of the Federation of Evangeical Lutheran Churches in India and the Southern Asia Secretary of the Division of World Mission and Ecumenism of the Lutheran Church in Amarica.

If the treasurer of the Church has also been prevented from performing his constitutionally prescribed duties, the interim administration shall also have the duty to receive and disburse monies on behalf of the A. E. L, Church. In the event that such emergency measures be under taken at 2 time when terms of some of the members of the commission have expired and the number of members is less than nine the Division of World Mission and Ecumenism shall immediately appoint members in the categories and in the number necessary to fill out the constitutinnal membership and shall, if necessary, call a meeting of the commission to elect its chairman. Steps shall be taken by the commission, in consultation with the Division of World Mission and Ecumenism of the Lutheran Church in America, to restore normal constitutional procedures with all due haste.