You delegate to a colleague and LEAT refuses. This page explains the
rule, which is simpler than the error message.
The rule
What you lend has to be a part of what you hold. Not the same, not
more, and not something you used to hold.
Four ways a delegation gets refused
- You do not hold it. You cannot lend an authority you were never given, even if you are senior to the person who has it.
- The amount is higher than yours. If your own ceiling is 5,000,000 shillings, you cannot delegate 8,000,000. You cannot delegate "no limit" either.
- The instrument says the power is personal. A trustee's vote is theirs. Some powers cannot be lent at all, and the clause that created the office says which.
- It would loop. If the person you are delegating to already delegates to you, both of you would appear to hold something neither of you has.
The one that surprises people
A delegation keeps being checked.
If your own authority is narrowed next month, the delegation you granted
today quietly stops working, without anybody editing it. That is not a
bug either: a delegate holding more than their grantor is exactly what
the subset rule exists to prevent, and it would be invisible if the
check only happened once.
Delegation, acting, proxy
Three different things, and LEAT keeps them apart because they do
different things to a quorum:
- Delegation. You lend part of your authority. The delegate does not become you and cannot vote in your place.
- Acting. Somebody temporarily is the office. They count in the quorum and they vote as themselves.
- Proxy. Somebody may cast your vote at one meeting. Whether they count toward the quorum depends on what the instrument says.
Every delegation ends
Maximum one year, and usually much less. The same reasoning as an
appointment, and shorter because lending spending authority for five
years is not an arrangement anybody reviews.
