Friendly Societies Act 1896

68 Decision of disputes

(1) Every dispute between—

(a) a member or person claiming through a member or under the rules of a registered society or branch, and the society or branch or an officer thereof ; or

(b) any person aggrieved who has ceased to be a member of a registered society or branch, or any person claiming through such person aggrieved, and the society or branch, or an officer thereof ; or

(c) any registered branch of any society or branch and the society or branch of which it is a branch ; or

(d) an officer of any such registered branch and the society or branch of which that registered branch is a branch ; or

(e) any two or more registered branches of any society or branch, or any officers thereof respectively,

shall be decided in manner directed by the rules of the society or branch, and the decision so given shall be binding and conclusive on all parties without appeal, and shall not be removable into any court of law or restrainable by injunction; and application for the enforcement thereof may be made to the county court.

(2) The parties to a dispute in a registered society or branch may, by consent (unless the rules of the society or branch expressly forbid it), refer the dispute to the chief registrar, or in Scotland or Ireland to the assistant registrar.

(3) The chief or other registrar to whom a dispute is referred shall, with the consent of the Treasury, either by himself or by any other registrar, hear and determine the dispute, and shall have power to order the expenses of determining the dispute to he paid either out of the funds of the society or branch, or by such parties to the dispute as he may think fit, and his determination and order shall have the same effect and be enforceable in like manner as a decision made in the manner directed by the rules of the society or branch.

(4) The chief or other registrar to whom a dispute is referred may administer' oaths, and may require the attendance of all parties concerned, and of witnesses, and the production of all books and documents relating to the matter in question.

(5) Where the rules of a registered society or branch direct that disputes shall be referred to justices, the dispute shall be determined by a court of summary jurisdiction, or, if the parties thereto consent, by the county court.

(6) Where the rules contain no direction as to disputes, or where no decision is made on a dispute within forty days after application to the society or branch for a reference under its rules, the member or person aggrieved may apply either to the county court, or to a court of summary jurisdiction, and the court to which application is so made may hear and determine the matter in dispute ; but in the case of a society with branches the said forty days shall not begin to run until application has been made in succession to all the bodies entitled to determine the dispute under the rules of the society or branch, so however that no rules shall require a greater delay than three months between each successive determination.

(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in the [52 & 53 Vict. c. 49.] Arbitration Act, 1889, or in any other Act, the court and the chief or other registrar or any arbitrator or umpire to whom a dispute is referred under the rules of a registered society or branch shall not be compelled to state a special case on any question of law arising in the case, but the court, or chief or other registrar, may, at the request of either party, state a case for the opinion in England or Ireland of the Supreme Court, and in Scotland of either division of the Inner House of the Court of Session, on any question of law, and may also grant to either party such discovery as to documents and otherwise, or such inspection of documents, and in Scotland may grant warrant for the recovery of documents and examination of havers, as might be granted by any court of law or equity, and the discovery shall be made on behalf of the society or branch by such officer thereof as the court or registrar may determine.

(8) In this section the expression " dispute" includes any dispute arising on the question whether a member or person aggrieved is entitled to be or to continue to be a member or to be reinstated as a member, but, save as aforesaid, in the case of a person who has ceased to be a member, does not include any dispute other than a dispute on a question between him and the society or branch or an officer thereof which arose whilst he was a member, or arises out of his previous relation as a member to that society or branch.