Universities (Scotland) Act 1922

1922 CHAPTER 31

An Act to extend the powers of the Courts of the Universities of Scotland in the making of Ordinances for the superannuation and pensioning of Principals and Professors, and for the admission of Lecturers and Readers to the Senatus Academicus, and to provide for the admission of Lecturers and Readers to membership of the General Councils of those Universities.

[20th July 1922]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—

1 Extension of powers of University Courts to mate ordinances.

The powers conferred upon the University Courts of the Scottish Universities by section twenty-one of the [52 & 53 Vict. c. 55.] Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889 (which confers power on these courts to make, alter, or revoke ordinances) shall include power, subject to the provisions of that section, to make and to alter or revoke such ordinances as they think fit—

(1) Ordaining that, notwithstanding the terms of any statute, charter, deed, or instrument and notwithstanding any custom, the tenure of office of any principal or professor shall be subject to limitations in respect of age prescribed by the ordinance : Provided that, in the case of any principalship or professorship the nomination or appointment whereto is reserved to or exercised by the Crown, the consent of His Majesty to any such limitation of the tenure thereof shall have been signified by the Secretary for Scotland : and provided also that no ordinance prescribing such limitation shall apply to any principal or professor holding office at the date of the approval of the ordinance by His Majesty in Council unless such principal or professor shall have consented to such application, or is by the terms of his appointment subject to such limitation ;

(2) Instituting or adopting a system or systems of pensions or superannuation allowances for principals or professors in supplement to or in substitution for any existing system of pensions instituted by ordinance or otherwise : Provided that no ordinance instituting or adopting any such system or systems shall apply to any principal or professor holding office at the date of the approval of the ordinance by His Majesty in Council unless such principal or professor shall have consented to such application. Any system or systems so instituted or adopted may provide that in reckoning the period of service of a principal or professor the period (if any) during which he may have held any other office of principal or professor in the same or in any other university whether in Scotland or elsewhere shall be taken into account;

(3) Providing for the admission of lecturers or readers as members of the Senatus Academicus subject to such conditions as to qualifications, number, mode of appointment, and tenure as may be prescribed in the ordinance.

2 Lecturers and readers to be members of general councils.

A lecturer or reader appointed by the university court of a Scottish university who has held the office of lecturer or reader therein for one year shall thenceforward, during his tenure of that office, be a member of the general council of that university and entitled to all the rights and privileges of a member of council although his name is not entered in the register of the council: Provided that nothing in this section shall entitle any person to be registered or to vote Parliamentary elector.

3 Citation and construction.

This Act may be cited as the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1922, and shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, be read and construed along with the [21 & 22 Vict. c. 83.] Universities (Scotland) Act, 1858 and the Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889, and those Acts and this Act may be cited together as the Universities (Scotland) Acts, 1858 to 1922.