Charter

Charter of the Swedish Society of Literature, adopted at the 1957 annual meeting and revised at the 2012 annual meeting.

§ 1 The purpose of the Society is to work for scholarly literary research by issuing, on the one hand, Samlaren, and, on the other hand, a publication series. Samlaren should be issued annually and contain articles of scholarly interest regarding Swedish and other Nordic literature. The publication series should comprise major literary studies, editions of older Swedish texts, and bibliographic works regarding Swedish literature. The Society should also work to catalog Swedish research on literature in adequate forms.

§ 2 Anyone can become a Society member who has expressed a wish to join and pays the annual fee, which shall be determined by the annual meeting. The fee entitles the member to receive a copy of Samlaren and moreover, to the greatest extent practicable, the publications issued by the Society.

§ 3 The Society’s activities are led by an executive committee, consisting of the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Society, as well as the Review Editor of Samlaren, all of whom are to be elected for three-year terms with the possibility of re-election, as well as two further members, who are to be elected for one year at a time and should not serve for more than two consecutive years. The Executive Committee constitutes a quorum if at least four members are present.

§ 4 The Secretary is charged with editing Samlaren, overseeing the Society’s publication series, and keeping minutes of the annual meeting and of the decisions of the Executive Committee.

§ 5 The Treasurer is charged with collecting the Society’s income, managing its assets, and executing its payments. Besides keeping the regular accounts, the Treasurer is to maintain a registry of members and oversee the distribution and storage of publications.

§ 6 Any authors or editors of a work that appears in Samlaren or the publication series are solely responsible for the content of the work. Any possible compensation for such a work is to be determined by the Executive Committee.

§ 7 The Society gathers for its annual meeting in Uppsala at a time determined by the Chair. At this meeting the Secretary presents a report of the Society’s activities during the past year, and the report of the auditors is read, followed by a decision on the matter of whether to discharge the Executive Committee from any liability for the bygone year. Furthermore, an election of the Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer is carried out to the extent this is relevant under § 3. Finally, the annual fee is determined as well as the honorariums for the Secretary and Treasurer. For decisions, a simple majority of the votes is sufficient; if there is a tie, the Chair decides.

§ 8 This Charter can be amended by decision of the annual meeting. Proposed amendments to the Charter must be submitted in writing to the Secretary, and the Executive Committee must also issue a statement.