Tradition 9 · September 17

A Legal Bludgeon

Daily Traditions · September 17

Before the Tradition

A.A.'s own board chairman, a lawyer, brought the idea. Get a Congressional Charter — an act of Congress protecting the A.A. name nationwide, the way the Red Cross is protected. It would end the impostors and the people trading on the name. Bill's own account (A.A. Comes of Age) admits headquarters loved it and knew exactly what they were being handed: a legal bludgeon "on any who might still defy the law." Then it went to the Conference delegates, and the delegates killed it. Their reasoning is the clearest sentence anyone has written about this Tradition: "It would mean the legal organization of a fellowship whose Traditions insisted on its being unorganized." Their written finding went further — "A Congressional incorporation would create by law a power to govern which would be contrary to, and violative of, our Traditions." Notice who stopped it. Not the founders. Not the board. The delegates, sent by the groups, turning down a weapon their own leadership wanted them to have.

Sit with

A.A. was offered a law protecting its own name, and the delegates turned it down because the protection would have created a power to govern. What protection have I wanted that would have cost more than the thing it protected?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (the Congressional Charter; the delegates' resolution).

Tradition 9

"A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 9 → Get the app →

← September 16The Screening Committee Tradition 9All of September September 18 →Still Around

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).