The BSA National Charter
[US Code, Title 36, Chapter 2]
June 15, 1916
§ 21. Corporation created.
Colin H. Livingstone and Ernest P. Bicknell, of Washington,
District of Columbia; Benjamin L. Dulaney, of Bristol, Tennessee;
Milton A. McRae, of Detroit, Michigan; David Starr Jordan, of
Berkeley, California; F. L. Seely, of Asheville, North Carolina;
A. Stamford White, of Chicago, Illinois; Daniel Carter Beard,
of Flushing, New York; George D. Pratt, of Brooklyn, New York;
Franklin C. Hoyt, Jeremiah W. Jenks, Charles P. Neill, Frank Presbrey,
Edgar M. Robinson, Mortimer L. Schiff, and James E. West, of New
York, New York; G. Barrett Rich, junior, of Buffalo, New York;
Robert Garrett, of Baltimore, Maryland; John Sherman Hoyt, of
Norwalk, Connecticut; Charles C. Jackson, of Boston, Massachusetts;
John H. Nicholson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; William D. Murray,
of Plainfield, New Jersey; and George D. Porter, of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, their associates and successors, are created a body
corporate and politic of the District of Columbia, where its domicile
shall be.
§ 22. Name and powers of corporation.
The name of the corporation created by this chapter shall be
''Boy Scouts of America'', and by that name it shall have perpetual
succession, with power to sue and be sued in courts of law and
equity within the jurisdiction of the United States; to hold such
real and personal estate as shall be necessary for corporate purposes,
and to receive real and personal property by gift, devise, or
bequest; to adopt a seal, and the same to alter and destroy at
pleasure; to have offices and conduct its business and affairs
within and without the District of Columbia and in the several
States and Territories of the United States; to make and adopt
by-laws, rules, and regulations not inconsistent with the laws
of the United States of America, or any State thereof, and generally
to do all such acts and things (including the establishment of
regulations for the election of associates and successors) as
may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this chapter
and promote the purposes of said corporation.
§ 23. Purposes of corporation.
The purpose of the corporation shall be to promote, through
organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability
of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them
in Scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance,
and kindred virtues, using the methods which were in common use
by Boy Scouts on June 15, 1916.
§ 24. Acquisition of assets and liabilities of existing
corporation;
Said corporation may acquire, by way of gift, all the assets
of the existing national organization of Boy Scouts, a corporation
under the laws of the District of Columbia, and defray and provide
for any debts or liabilities to the discharge of which said assets
shall be applicable; but said corporation shall have no power
to issue certificates of stock or to declare or pay dividends,
its object and purposes being solely of a benevolent character
and not for pecuniary profit to its members.
§ 25. Executive board; powers.
The governing body of the said Boy Scouts of America shall
consist of an executive board composed of citizens of the United
States. The number, qualifications, and terms of office of members
of the executive board shall be prescribed by the by-laws. The
persons mentioned in section 21 of this title shall constitute
the first executive board and shall serve until their successors
are elected and have qualified. Vacancies in the executive board
shall be filled by a majority vote of the remaining members thereof.
The bylaws may prescribe the number of members of the executive
board necessary to constitute a quorum of the board, which number
may be less than a majority of the whole number of the board.
The executive board shall have power to make and to amend the
bylaws, and, by a two-thirds vote of the whole board at a meeting
called for this purpose, may authorize and cause to be executed
mortgages and liens upon the property of the corporation. The
executive board may, by resolution passed by a majority of the
whole board, designate three or more of their number to constitute
an executive or governing committee, of which a majority shall
constitute a quorum, which committee, to the extent provided in
said resolution or in the bylaws of the corporation, shall have
and exercise the powers of the executive board in the management
of the business affairs of the corporation, and may have power
to authorize the seal of the corporation to be affixed to all
papers which may require it. The executive board, by the affirmative
vote of a majority of the whole board, may appoint any other standing
committees, and such standing committees shall have and may exercise
such powers as shall be conferred or authorized by the bylaws.
With the consent in writing and pursuant to an affirmative vote
of a majority of the members of said corporation, the executive
board shall have authority to dispose in any manner of the whole
property of the corporation.
§ 26. Annual and special meetings; quorum.
An annual meeting of the incorporators, their associates and
successors, shall be held once in every year after the year of
incorporation, at such time and place as shall be prescribed in
the bylaws, when the annual reports of the officers and executive
board shall be presented and members of the executive board elected
for the ensuing year. Special meetings of the corporation may
be called upon such notice as may be prescribed in the bylaws.
The number of members which shall constitute a quorum at any annual
or special meeting shall be prescribed in the bylaws. The members
and executive board shall have power to hold their meetings and
keep the seal, books, documents, and papers of the corporation
within or without the District of Columbia.
§ 27. Exclusive right to emblems, badges, marks, and words
or phrases.
The corporation shall have the sole and exclusive right to
have and to use, in carrying out its purposes, all emblems and
badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases
now or heretofore used by the Boy Scouts of America in carrying
out its program, it being distinctly and definitely understood,
however, that nothing in this chapter shall interfere or conflict
with established or vested rights.
§ 28. Annual report.
On or before the 1st day of April of each year the said Boy
Scouts of America shall make and transmit to Congress a report
of its proceedings for the year ending December 31 preceding.
§ 29. Reservation of right to amend or repeal chapter.
Congress shall have the right to repeal, alter, or amend this
chapter at any time.
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Section last updated/reviewed 13 Apr 10.
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