The rules of a club are essentially contractual in nature.
A member may resign his membership unilaterally and his resignation will be effective if he has sufficiently manifested his decision to cease to be a member: ‘ . . It seems to me that the answer, or an answer, lies in the decision of the Court of Appeal in Finch v Oake [1896] 1 Ch. 409, which I mentioned in the course of argument. This established that a member of a society has the unilateral right, not dependent on acceptance by the society, to resign his membership at any time, even though the rules contain no provision as to resignation. In that case, the member wrote a letter saying that he desired to withdraw his name as a member of the society, and that was held to be sufficient. There can be no magic in the word ‘resign,’ nor in whether the resignation is written or oral. The essence of the matter seems to me to be whether the member has sufficiently manifested his decision to be a member no more. I cannot see why such a manifestation should not be by conduct instead of by words: the only question is whether the member’s decision has been adequately conveyed to the society by words or deeds . . ‘
Megarry J
[1973] Ch 51, [1972] 2 All ER 439
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Finch v Oake CA 22-Jan-1896
The members of a voluntary trade protection society became such by election, and paid an annual subscription, in return for which they were entitled to legal assistance for the purposes of their trade and to some other benefits. By the rules the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Speechley and Others v Allott and Others CA 10-Mar-2014
The parties disputed the management of a social club. The club owned a bowling green, and bowling members sought to restrain its closure. The appellants now said that the court should not have found at first instance that a meeting had validly . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Company
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.551302
