1927 May 192- |
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada drew up and published a 'Declaration of Trust' and 'By-laws of the National Spiritual Assembly'. [BW2:89, BW10:180]
For text see BW2:90–8.
The Guardian described it as the Bahá'í 'national constitution' heralding 'the formation of the constitution of the future Bahá'í World Community'. [GPB335; PP302–3]
The drafting was largely the work of Horace Holley with assistance from the lawyer Mountfort Mills. [SBR234]
In subsequent years the National Assemblies of India and Burma, of Egypt, Iraq, Persian and the British Isles all adopted this example almost verbatim. [UD101, BA134-5, SETPE1p145-6] |
National Spiritual Assembly; Horace Holley; Mountfort Mills; Constitutions (Bahá'í); By-laws; Recognition (legal); Firsts, other; United States (USA); Canada |
The first document of this sort to establish a clear legal basis for the National Spiritual Assembly |