Article 1

The regular meeting of this Society shall be held on every Friday evening.

Article 2

Ten regular members shall constitute a quorum.

Article 3

The order of business after the usual preliminaries shall be as follows

Composition
Regular or irregular debate
Declamation
Irregular business
Assessment and settlement of fines, minutes and duties, roll

When all those fines which have been previously initiated shall be taken up in the order of their infliction, and if not remitted shall be doubled or trebled as the case may be. After this order has been completed the house shall adjourn with motion.

Previous to its completion it shall require a majority of two-thirds of the regular members voting to pass a motion for adjournment, which motion if carried shall not go into effect until after the reading of the minutes and calling of the roll.

Article 4

No exercise of this Society shall exceed twenty-five minutes, and no debater shall speak more than once on the regular debate, nor more than twice on irregular debate, without permission of the Presidency.

Article 5

Each composer shall place his composition (directed to 1st or 2nd Critic) in a box provided for the purpose at the lower door of the hall on or before the Wednesday proceeding the time it is to be read.

Article 6

If any officer except the Librarian, Corresponding Secretary, and Treasurer, be not excused from the absence, his fine shall be doubled.

Article 7

The President elect in going into office shall make the following promise administered to him by any member whom he may select.

Do you solemnly promise in the presence of these members to maintain the Constitution, and to execute the laws of this Society to the best of your ability?

After which he (the President) shall deliver an inaugural address.

Article 8

A Committee of three shall be appointed at the second regular meeting of each session whose duty it shall be to superintend the general finances of the Society, and report as often as they may deem necessary.

Article 9

In the election of officers, if no candidate has a majority of the votes cast, the ballot shall then be taken between the three foremost candidates, and should no one then have a majority, the ballot shall be taken between the two foremost, whereupon the President shall declare the result of the ballot. Any vote or votes cast on the 2nd or 3rd ballot will not be counted unless confined to the candidates specified by the President.

Article 10

After 1856 the Society shall have but one annual celebration, which shall be held on the 22nd February.

Article 11

A majority shall carry a motion, two-thirds a resolution, except such as relate to the Constitution or By-laws.

Article 12

No petition for membership accepted by this Society shall be valid longer than two meetings, when the petitioner is not initiated during that time.

Article 13

If any member cut, injure, or deface in any manner the furniture or the property of this Society, he shall be fined not less than 50¢ nor more than one dollar. He shall also repair the damages.

Article 14

Any member absenting himself from this Society for four regular meetings in succession, without sending up a written excuse to the President (which must be valid) shall be arraigned and dealt with as directed in Article 5, Section 4.

Article 15

Any member wishing leave of absence from the meeting for a longer time than ten minutes shall obtain permission from the President.

Article 16

Each member on admission into the Society shall be required by the Recording Secretary to subscribe to the Constitution by enrolling his name in the Record Book.

Article 17

No member shall remain out of the hall during the meeting of the Society for more than ten minutes, and not more than two members at the same time.

Article 18

All the proceedings of this Society shall be kept inviolably secret.

Article 19

No member shall serve on more than two committees at the same time.

Article 20

No mention for the reconsideration of a motion shall be brought up except by a member who voted in the majority, and it shall require two-thirds of the regular members voting to reconsider any motion.

Article 21

Candidates for the ministry, who are beneficiaries, and other indigent students the Society may elect, shall be exempt from the payment of the initiation fee.

Article 22

The stated fines of this Society shall be as follows

Absence from a whole meeting – 50¢
Nonperformance of duty – 50¢
Absence from one roll call – 25¢
Leaving the hall without permission – 25¢
Remaining out over time – 25¢
And for each succeeding twenty minutes, the same sum – 25¢

Article 23

Meetings for the transaction of urgent business may be called by the President, or in his absence, by either of the officiating officers.

Article 24

All motions for altering, amending, or suspending these by-laws (except as refer to Article 1, which shall be suspended on simple motion with a majority of two-thirds of the regular members voting) shall be made in writing recorded in the minutes, and read out at the next regular meeting, before any vote shall be taken, and then no Article (except the one specified above) shall be altered, amended, or suspended except by a majority of four-fifths of the regular members voting.

Article 25

The Society may elect a speaker every month, who shall be elected as other speakers.

Article 26

No dispensation shall be granted to any member of this Society upon any consideration whatsoever, except the Senior Class, which may be allowed optional attendance and performance six weeks previous to their final examination.

Article 27

Any member who shall spit any place but in the spittoons, or smoke in the hall before the taking up of the Society, shall be fined 50¢.