"Official"?

[Tom Brady <tbrady@nando.net>]

Poster: Tom Brady <tbrady@nando.net>

At 05:39 PM 7/2/96 -0700, His Highness wrote:
>May I remind you of one thing in regard to the membership requirement to 
>fight.  That is it only applies to "official" tournaments held within the 
>authority of the SCA.  Your local fighter practice (canton level, 
>baronial level or Tadhg level) are not affected!

Ah, but there is a matter of semantics involved here. I remember from my
days as seneschal when the whole pay-to-fight issue first came onto the
scene that the question arose: What makes an SCA event "official"?
Publication in the kingdom newsletter - sure. But what about publication in
a baronial/shire/canton newsletter? Or an announcement at an "official"
meeting? Corpora does not seem cover this.

I assure you, friends, I am not asking these things merely to be contrary,
but to clarify not only when a fighter must be authorized (and thus a
member) but also when a gathering might be covered (or uncovered, depending
on who you talk to) by the SCA insurance policy. And while it is a matter of
semantics, unfortunately it is on semantics that the US legal system is
built (well, truth, justice, &c. as well, but semantics as well). This has
always been something which bothered me and I have never been able to find a
satisfactory explaination. If anyone could enlighten me, I would appreciate it.

Regards,
Duncan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Brady               tbrady@nando.net               SCA: Duncan MacKinnon
  See my web pages at http://www.technomancer.com/~duncan/ for pointers
       for the Society for Creative Anachronism and gay & lesbian links

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