Robert's Parliamentary Practice/Chapter 1
PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
CHAPTER I.
ORGANIZATION; MOTIONS.
Experience has shown that there must be rules to govern an assembly, and that some one must be selected to act as presiding officer to enforce these rules, in order that after suitable deliberation the will of the majority may prevail. It has also been found necessary that some one should be selected to keep a record of what has actually been done by the assembly. The first person is usually called the chairman or president, and the second, the secretary.
Organization.
When a number of people wish to take action on a certain matter, one of the number should take a prominent position and attract attention, if necessary, by striking the table and should say, "The meeting will come to order." It is then the duty of all present to be seated and to be attentive. The member who called the meeting to order says, "I nominate Mr. Jones for chairman." Some one in the audience, without rising, says, "I second the nomination." The one who called the meeting to order then says, "Mr. Jones is nominated for chairman. As many as are in favor of Mr. Jones for chairman of this meeting say Aye" [pronounced the same as eye]. After the ayes have responded he continues, "Those opposed say No." If the ayes are in the majority, that is, if there are more ayes than noes, he continues thus to announce or declare the vote, "The ayes have it, Mr. Jones is elected chairman, and he will please take the chair." [For duties of the Chairman see Chapter XVI.]
Mr. Jones proceeds to the platform and says, "The election of secretary is the next business in order. Will some one please nominate a secretary." The secretary is nominated by some one in the hall, and is elected in the same manner as the chairman. In this chapter it is assumed that there is only one nomination for secretary. When there are more than one see First Drill, page 17. The secretary takes his place at the table near the president and keeps a record of action taken as described, pp. 115, 128. [For duties of Secretary see Chapter XVI.]
Instead of the method described above the member who calls the meeting to order may say, "I move that Mr. Jones act as chairman," and the seconder says, "I second the motion." The first member then says, "As many as are in favor," etc., as already described.
Motions.
Introduction of Business. The meeting being organized, the chairman says, "The meeting is now open for business." A member who wishes the assembly to take certain action rises and addresses "the Chair," as the presiding officer is commonly referred to whatever is his title. The regular presiding officer should always be addressed by his official title preceded by Mr. or Madam, thus: Mr. President, Mr. Moderator, Mr. Grand Commander, Madam Chairman, Madam President, etc. A temporary presiding officer, or one with no special title, is addressed as Mr., or Madam, Chairman. A vice president in the chair is addressed as Mr., or Madam, President. The chairman "recognizes" a member by announcing his name, or in small assemblies where the members are all acquainted, by bowing to him. If two or more rise at about the same time, the chair generally recognizes and thus assigns the floor to the one who rose first and addressed the chair. The member having "obtained the floor" presents the subject to the assembly in the form of what is called a "motion." A motion is a proposal that the assembly take certain action, or that it express itself as holding certain views. It is made by a member's obtaining the floor and saying, except in the case of a resolution, "I move to," etc. or "I move that," etc., as for example, "I move to postpone the question to," etc., or "I move that the question be postponed to," etc. In the case of resolutions the following forms are used: "I move to adopt the following resolution, 'Resolved, That,' " etc.; or "I move the adoption of the following resolution, 'Resolved, That,' " etc.; or "I offer the following resolution, 'Resolved, That,' " etc.
For convenience, motions are divided into main, subsidiary, privileged, and incidental. All except main motions and one other (to take from the table) are sometimes referred to as Secondary motions, since they may be made while other motions are pending, a fact not true of main motions and the motion to take from the table. Main motions are those which introduce a subject matter to the assembly. They are debatable and amendable.
Subsidiary motions are those which are made while another motion is pending, for the purpose of properly disposing of the other motion. The subsidiary motion supersedes the other motion for the time being, and must be acted upon before action can be taken on the other motion. Privileged motions have nothing to do with the pending question, but are of such importance that they are allowed to interrupt the consideration of other questions. They are undebatable because of this high rank. Privileged and subsidiary motions have a definite order of precedence among themselves as shown on Chart I, page 166. Incidental motions are those which arise out of a pending question and must be decided before that question; or out of a question that has just been pending and must be decided before any other business is taken up; or that relate to the business of the assembly. They have no definite rank because they are in order whenever they are incidental to the business of the assembly regardless of the rank of the pending motions. They are undebatable except an appeal under certain circumstances hereafter described, page 93. A list of the common incidental motions is given in Chart II, page 167.
Practice Work.
(1) State all the steps necessary for calling a meeting to order, nominating a chairman, and electing a chairman.
(2) Take the part of the chairman, call for nominations for secretary, and conduct the election.
(3) Give two forms that may be used in nominating a chairman.
(4) What is meant by the chair's recognizing a member, and a member's obtaining the floor? What is a motion?
(5) Give two correct forms for any motion that is not a resolution, and three for a resolution.
(6) What is the distinction between a main motion and a secondary one? Can a main motion be debated? Can it be amended?
(7) Which subsidiary motions are debatable?[1] Which may be amended?[1]
(8) Why are privileged motions undebatable? Why do they have so high a rank?
(9) How are privileged motions unlike most subsidiary ones? Why do incidental motions have no definite rank?
(10) Give the substance of the six elementary principles laid down in the Introduction page xiv.