This has been interesting reading. I urge you not to give up too soon.
It is no wonder that you did not find the 50% rule in the by-laws. I believe if you go back to page 1 of this thread and read the decision of the special committee, they effectively acknowledge that they "created" the 50% rule with their decision.
Paraphrasing, what the decision says is that the by-laws say clubs must "operate" within their districts. Then, they acknowledge that the term "operate" is not defined. Then, they set a two-part definition for "operate".
The special committe obviously believed (whether correctly or not--I don't know for sure) that they had the authority to establish this definition.
The committee decision references the SCYSA "Rules and By-laws" as if they are one thing. This is not exactly correct. There are SCYSA Rules and there are SCYSA By-Laws. I believe (but could be wrong) that there is an important difference between the two. Rules can be changed by the board, at its descretion. By-laws are governed by SC law and (I assume) can only be changed by a vote of the members.
My conclusion is that the committee may have the authority to establish this definition. (without taking a position on whether they should have done so, although I reserve the right to take such a position in the future).
