Glossary — Collegial vote
How does a collegial vote on archive access work?
Decision mechanism set out in the contract when an access, restitution or end-of-period arbitration request concerns several grantees. The contract sets the majority rule (simple, qualified, unanimity), the quorum, any veto rights, and the voting period. Every operation is logged.
What it is
When a case has several grantees — former shareholders, a family of successors, a committee of administrators — a collective framework is needed to decide. The Archivum contract provides, at signing, the applicable decision mode:
- Simple majority: half plus one.
- Qualified majority: two thirds, three quarters, or another threshold.
- Unanimity: all grantees must consent.
- Quorum: minimum number of voters for the decision to be valid.
- Veto right: one or several designated persons can block the decision regardless of the majority.
The voting window is bounded: beyond it, silence is taken as either approval or refusal, depending on what was agreed.
Why it matters
Without an explicit collective rule, an access request that pits two successors with diverging interests becomes a conflict the archive trustee cannot resolve alone. Collegial voting moves the arbitration responsibility where it belongs: to the beneficiaries themselves, within the agreed framework, and in a traceable way.
How Archivum approaches it
Archivum executes the vote according to the contract, without interpreting. Notification of voters, opening of the ballot, vote logging, quorum check, application of the outcome. In case of deadlock (no quorum, veto activated without agreement), the contract provides for a default mechanism — typically the status quo: no access granted, no restitution, the archive remains as is.