Robert's Rules of Order Part 7

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debate, within the rules of order; to enforce on all occasions the observance of order and decorum [-- 36] among the members, deciding all questions of order (subject to an appeal to the a.s.sembly by any two members, -- 14), and to inform the a.s.sembly when necessary, or when referred to for the purpose, on a point of order or practice;

To authenticate, by his signature, when necessary, all the acts, orders and proceedings of the a.s.sembly, and in general to represent and stand for the a.s.sembly, declaring its will, and in all things obeying its commands.

The chairman shall rise* [It is not customary for the chairman to rise while putting questions in very small bodies, such as committees, boards of trustees, &c.] to put a question to vote, but may state it sitting; he shall also rise from his seat (without calling any one to the chair), when speaking to a question of order, which he can do in preference to other members. In referring to himself he should always use his official t.i.tle thus: "The Chair decides so and so," not "I decide, &c." When a member has the floor, the chairman cannot interrupt him as long as he does not transgress

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any of the rules of the a.s.sembly, excepting as provided in -- 2.

He is ent.i.tled to vote when the vote is by ballot,* [But this right is lost if he does not use it before the tellers have commenced to count the ballots. The a.s.sembly can give leave to the chairman to vote under such circ.u.mstances.] and in all other cases where the vote would change the result. Thus in a case where two-thirds vote is necessary, and his vote thrown with the minority would prevent the adoption of the question, he can cast his vote; so also he can vote with the minority when it will produce a tie vote and thus cause the motion to fail.

Whenever a motion is made referring especially to the chairman, the maker of the motion should put it to vote.

The chairman can, if it is necessary to vacate the chair, appoint a chairman pro tem.,** [When there are Vice Presidents, then the first one on the list that is present, is, by virtue of his office, chairman during the absence of the President, and should always be called to the chair when the President temporarily vacates it.] but the first adjournment puts an end to the appointment, which the a.s.sembly can terminate before, if it pleases, by electing another chairman. But the regular chairman, knowing that he will be absent from a future meeting, cannot authorize another member to act

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in his place at such meeting; the clerk [-- 41], or in his absence any member, should in such case call the meeting to order, and a chairman pro tem. be elected, who would hold office during that session [-- 42], without such office was terminated by the entrance of the regular chairman.

The chairman sometimes calls a member to the chair, and himself takes part in the debate. But this should rarely be done, and nothing can justify it in a case where much feeling is shown, and there is a liability to difficulty in preserving order. If the chairman has even the appearance of being a partisan, he loses much of his ability to control those who are on the opposite side of the question.* [The unfortunate habit many chairmen have of constantly speaking upon questions before the a.s.sembly, even interrupting the member who has the floor, is unjustified by either the common parliamentary law, or the practice of Congress. One who expects to take an active part in debate should never accept the chair. "It is a general rule, in all deliberative a.s.semblies, that the presiding officer shall not partic.i.p.ate in the debate, or other proceedings, in any other capacity than as such officer. He is only allowed, therefore, to state matters of fact within his knowledge; to inform the a.s.sembly on points of order or the course of proceeding, when called upon for that purpose, or when he finds it necessary to do so; and on appeals from his decision on questions of order, to address the a.s.sembly in debate." [Cus.h.i.+ng's Manual, page 106.] "Though the Speaker [chairman] may of right speak to matters of order and be first heard, he is restrained from speaking on any other subject except where the a.s.sembly have occasion for facts within his knowledge; then he may, with their leave, state the matter of fact." [Jefferson's Manual, sec. xvii, and Barclay's "Digest of the Rules and Practice of the House of Representatives, U. S.," page 195.]]

The chairman should not only be familiar with parliamentary usage, and set the example of strict conformity to it, but he should be a

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man of executive ability, capable of controlling men; and it should never be forgotten, that, to control others, it is necessary to control one's self. An excited chairman can scarcely fail to cause trouble in a meeting.

A chairman will often find himself perplexed with the difficulties attending his position, and in such cases he will do well to heed the advice of a distinguished writer on parliamentary law, and recollect that--"The great purpose of all rules and forms, is to subserve the will of the a.s.sembly, rather than to restrain it; to facilitate, and not to obstruct, the expression of their deliberate sense."

41. Clerk or Secretary [and the Minutes]. The recording officer is usually called

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the "Clerk" or "Secretary,"* [When there are two secretaries, he is termed the "recording secretary," and the other one, the "corresponding secretary." In many societies the secretary, besides acting as recording officer, collects the dues of members, and thus becomes to a certain extent a financial officer. In most cases the treasurer acts as banker, only paying on the order of the society, signed by the secretary alone, or by the president and secretary. In such cases the secretary becomes in reality the financial officer of the society, and should make reports to the society, of funds received and from what sources, and of the funds expended and for what purposes. See -- 52 for his duties as financial officer.] and the record of proceedings the "Minutes." His desk should be near that of the chairman, and in the absence of the chairman, (if there is no vice president present) when the hour for opening the session arrives, it is his duty to call the meeting to order, and to preside until the election of a chairman pro tem., which should be done immediately. He should keep a record of the proceedings, commencing in a form similar to the following :** [See Clerk and Minutes in Part II, -- 51.]

"At a regular quarterly meeting of [state the name of the society] held on the 31st day of March, 1875, at [state the place of meeting], the President in the chair, the minutes were read by the clerk and approved." If the regular clerk is absent, insert after the words "in the chair," the following: "The clerk being absent, Robert Smith was appointed clerk pro tem.

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The minutes were then read and approved." If the minutes were not read, say "the reading of the minutes was dispensed with." The above form will show the essentials, which are as follows: (a) The kind of meeting, "regular" [or stated] or "special," or "adjourned regular,"

or "adjourned special;" (6) name of the a.s.sembly; (c) date and place of meeting (excepting when the place is always the same); (d) the fact of the presence of the regular chairman and clerk, or in their absence the names of their subst.i.tutes; (e) whether the minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

The minutes should be signed by the person who acted as clerk for that meeting: in some societies the chairman must also sign them. When published, they should be signed by both officers.

In keeping the minutes much depends upon the kind of meeting, and whether the minutes are to be published. If they are to be published, it is often of far more interest to know what was said by the leading speakers, than to know what routine business was done, and what resolutions adopted.

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In such case the duties of the secretary are arduous, and he should have at least one a.s.sistant. In ordinary society meetings and meetings of Boards of Managers and Trustees, on the contrary, there is no object in reporting the debates; the duty of the clerk, in such cases, is mainly to record what is "done" by the a.s.sembly, not what is said by the members. Without there is a rule to the contrary, he should enter every Princ.i.p.al motion [-- 6] that is before the a.s.sembly, whether it is adopted or rejected; and where there is a division [see Voting, -- 38], or where the vote is by ballot, he should enter the number of votes on each side; and when the voting is by yeas and nays [-- 38], he should enter a list of the names of those voting on each side. He should endorse on the reports of committees, the date of their reception, and what further action was taken upon them, and preserve them among the records, for which he is responsible. He should in the minutes make a brief summary of a report that has been agreed to, except where it contains resolutions, in which case the resolutions will be entered in full as adopted by the a.s.sembly, and not as

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if it was the report accepted. The proceedings of the committee of the whole [-- 32], or while acting informally [-- 33], should not be entered on the minutes. Before an adjournment without day, it is customary to read over the minutes for approval, if the next meeting of the board or society will not occur for a long period. Where the regular meetings are not separated by too great a time, the minutes are read at the next meeting.

The clerk should, previous to each meeting, for the use of the chairman, make out an order of business [-- 44], showing in their exact order what is necessarily to come before the a.s.sembly. He should also have at each meeting a list of all standing committees, and such select committees as are in existence at the time. When a committee is appointed, he should hand the names of the committee and all papers referred to it to the chairman, or some other of its members.

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Art. VIII. Miscellaneous.

[---- 42-45.]

42. A Session of an a.s.sembly is a meeting* [See definitions in Introduction for the distinction between "meeting" and "session."]

which, though it may last for days, is virtually one meeting, as a session of a Convention; or even months, as a session of Congress; it terminates by an "adjournment without day." The intermediate adjournments from day to day, or the recesses taken during the day, do not destroy the continuity of the meeting--they in reality const.i.tute one session. In the case of a permanent society, having regular meetings every week, month, or year, for example, each meeting const.i.tutes a separate session of the society, which session however can be prolonged by adjourning to another day.

If a princ.i.p.al motion [-- 6] is indefinitely postponed or rejected at one session, while it cannot be introduced again at the same session [see Renewal of a Motion, -- 26], it can be at

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the next, without it is prohibited by a rule of the a.s.sembly.

No one session of the a.s.sembly can interfere with the rights of the a.s.sembly at any future session,* [Any one session can adopt a rule or resolution of a permanent nature, and it continues in force until at some future session it is rescinded. But these Standing Rules, as they are termed, do not interfere with future sessions, because at any moment a majority can suspend or rescind them, or adopt new ones.] without it is expressly so provided in their Const.i.tution, Bylaws, or Rules of Order, all of which are so guarded (by requiring notice of amendments, and at least a two-thirds vote for their adoption) that they are not subject to sudden changes, but may be considered as expressing the deliberate views of the whole society, rather than the opinions or wishes of any particular meeting. Thus, if the presiding officer were ill, it would not be competent for one session of the a.s.sembly to elect a chairman to hold office longer than that session, as it cannot control or dictate to the next session of the a.s.sembly. By going through the prescribed routine of an election to fill the vacancy, giving whatever notice is required, it could then legally elect a chairman to hold office while the vacancy lasted. So it

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is improper for an a.s.sembly to postpone anything to a day beyond the next succeeding session, and thus attempt to prevent the next session from considering the question. On the other hand, it is not permitted to move a reconsideration [-- 27] of a vote taken at a previous session [though the motion to reconsider can be called up, provided it was made at the last meeting of the previous session.] Committees can be appointed to report at a future session.

Note On Session--In Congress, and in fact all legislative bodies, the limits of the sessions are clearly defined; but in ordinary societies having a permanent existence, with regular meetings more or less frequent, there appears to be a great deal of confusion upon the subject. Any society is competent to decide what shall const.i.tute one of its sessions, but, where there is no rule on the subject, the common parliamentary law would make each of its regular or special meetings a separate session, as they are regarded in this Manual.

The disadvantages of a rule making a session include all the meetings of an ordinary society, held during a long time as one year, are very great. [Examine Indefinitely Postpone, -- 24, and Renewal of a Motion, -- 26.] If members of any society take advantage of the freedom allowed by considering

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each regular meeting a separate session, and repeatedly renew obnoxious or unprofitable motions, the society can adopt a rule prohibiting the second introduction of any princ.i.p.al question [-- 6] within, say, three or six months after its rejection, or indefinite postponement, or after the society has refused to consider it. But generally it is better to suppress the motion by refusing to consider it [-- 15].

43. A Quorum of an a.s.sembly is such a number as is competent to transact its business. Without there is a special rule on the subject, the quorum of every a.s.sembly is a majority of all the members of the a.s.sembly. But whenever a society has any permanent existence, it is usual to adopt a much smaller number, the quorum being often less than one-twentieth of its members; this becomes a necessity in most large societies, where only a small fraction of the members are ever present at a meeting.* [While a quorum is competent to transact any business, it is usually not expedient to transact important business without there is a fair attendance at the meeting, or else previous notice of such action has been given.]

The Chairman should not take the chair till a quorum is present, except where there is no hope of there being a quorum, and then no business can be transacted, except simply

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to adjourn. So whenever during the meeting there is found not to be a quorum present, the only thing to be done is to adjourn--though if no question is raised about it, the debate can be continued, but no vote taken, except to adjourn.

In committee of the whole, the quorum is the same as in the a.s.sembly; in any other committee the majority is a quorum, without the a.s.sembly order otherwise, and it must wait for a quorum before proceeding to business.

If the number afterwards should be reduced below a quorum, business is not interrupted, unless a member calls attention to the fact; but no question can be decided except when a quorum is present. Boards of Trustees, Managers, Directors, etc., are on the same footing as committees, in regard to a quorum. Their power is delegated to them as a body, and what number shall be present in order that they may act as a Board, is to be decided by the society that appoints the Board. If no quorum is specified, then a majority const.i.tutes a quorum.

44. Order of Business. It is customary for every society having a permanent existence,