History of parliamentary procedure

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The history of parliamentary procedure refers to the origins and evolution of parliamentary law used by deliberative assemblies.

Contents

Origins

Demeter's Manual traces the origins of parliamentary law, by which is meant orderly deliberation and action by an assembly of persons or a body of citizens, to c. 750 BC in Greece. It was during that era that the idea of self-government, with the right to deliberate in assembly and to speak and vote on public questions, was conceived. The Greeks instituted the Athenian agora, equivalent to the American town meeting, consisting of the whole body of male citizens above eighteen years of age, which met forty times each year on the Acropolis. Any citizen could address the meeting from the Bema and vote on questions before the assembly.

Circa 450 BC, the Romans adopted the concept of self-government and expanded it with the institution of the Roman Forum, where Roman orators addressed the General Assembly from the Rostra and the people afterward voted on pending questions. [1]

Anglo-Saxon tribes

According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), one commonly held view is that "our own tradition of parliamentary process may be traced to ways of life in Anglo-Saxon tribes before their migration to the island of Britain starting in the fifth century A.D. Among these peoples on the continent of Europe, the tribe was the largest regularly existing political unit." [2] Each of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had its own witenagemot, which was a national assembly consisting of freemen who owned land. [2] The structure of the Anglo-Saxon governmental machinery was left largely intact even after the Norman Conquest in 1066, with the Norman kings assembling a "Great Council" of court officials, barons, and prelates that was constitutionally a continuation of the witenagemot. [3]

Early parliament

In the 13th and early 14th centuries, the Great Council was converted into the English Parliament. The distinguishing feature of these early parliaments was that the barons were invited to not only express their opinions individually to the king, but to discuss with each other the business "of king and kingdom" rather than only "the king's business." The earliest parliament clearly identifiable as of this character was held in 1258. It was during the Thirteenth century that the rules of parliamentary law started taking form as a science. [1] The clerk of the House of Commons began keeping the Journal of the House of Commons on his own initiative in 1547, which became a source of precedent in parliamentary procedure. [4] Legislative Procedure: Parliamentary Practices and the Course of Business notes that "many usages were crystallized, so to speak, by the ruling of a Speaker or by some formal action of Parliament, such as a resolution or simple vote." [5]

Early United States

British parliamentary procedures were carried over to the American colonies and became the foundations of legislative procedure in the U.S. states. Jefferson's Manual, published in 1801, recognized indebtedness to John Hatsell's Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons . [6] In the U.S. House of Representatives, parliamentary procedure was perfected into a system which was described in the U.S. House Rules and Manual thus: [7]

They are perhaps the most finely adjusted, scientifically balanced, and highly technical rules of any parliamentary body in the world. Under them a majority may work its will at all times in the face of the most determined and vigorous opposition of a minority

The development of parliamentary law was similar to that of the common law. Mason's Manual notes that parliamentary law was built on precedents created by decisions on points of order or appeals and by decisions of courts. It was guided in its development by the authority to make rules inherent in every deliberative body. The common law of parliamentary procedure, however, did not rest upon mere custom but upon reasonable and equitable custom. Mason's Manual notes: [8]

The state legislatures and local governmental bodies copied from Congress. However, the procedure of the state legislatures, local legislative bodies and voluntarily associations now differs greatly from the procedure of Parliament and Congress. While Congress is governed largely by rules adopted by the houses of Congress to meet their local and special needs, the states legislatures – and particularly, the more local bodies, both public and private – are governed by a branch of the common law based upon court decisions and upon precedents and customs of deliberative bodies.

20th century to present in the US

By the beginning of the 20th century, Robert's Rules of Order had been almost universally adopted by ordinary societies in the US. [9] In 1950, Alice Sturgis published the Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, later revised in 2001 by AIP as The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure , arguing that organizations need not continue operating under 19th century rules, and that it would be better to go with a simpler set of rules. In 1969 George Demeter published Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure, Blue Book Edition, that was longer and more in-depth than the then current version of Robert's Rules of Order Revised (ROR). In the 21st century, the latest editions of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised included coverage of current practices such as electronic meetings and sending communication by electronic means such as e-mail. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Roberts Rules of Order</i> Book on parliamentary procedure by Henry Martyn Robert

Robert's Rules of Order, often simply referred to as Robert's Rules, is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which it was designed [...] Where there is no law [...] there is the least of real liberty." The term Robert's Rules of Order is also used more generically to refer to any of the more recent editions, by various editors and authors, based on any of Robert's original editions, and the term is used more generically in the United States to refer to parliamentary procedure. It was written primarily to help guide voluntary associations in their operations of governance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliamentary procedure</span> Guidelines to conduct meetings

Parliamentary procedures are the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or the will of the majority of the assembly upon these questions. Self-governing organizations follow parliamentary procedure to debate and reach group decisions, usually by vote, with the least possible friction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Committee</span> Body of one or more persons that is subordinate to a deliberative assembly

A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision making body. Usually, an assembly or organization sends matters to a committee as a way to explore them more fully than would be possible if the whole assembly or organization were considering them. Committees may have different functions and their types of work differ depending on the type of organization and its needs.

In parliamentary procedure, an adjournment ends a meeting. It could be done using a motion to adjourn. A time for another meeting could be set using the motion to fix the time to which to adjourn.

In deliberative bodies, a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting. It does not necessarily indicate that the seconder favors the motion.

A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law with an updated, amended, or otherwise related law, or a repeal without replacement so as to abolish its provisions altogether.

A parliamentary authority is a book of rules for conducting business in deliberative assemblies. Several different books have been used by legislative assemblies and by organizations' deliberative bodies.

In US parliamentary procedure, the previous question is generally used as a motion to end debate on a pending proposal and bring it to an immediate vote. The meaning of this specialized motion has nothing to do with any question previously considered by the assembly.

Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions. The regular methods of voting in such bodies are a voice vote, a rising vote, and a show of hands. Additional forms of voting include a recorded vote and balloting.

In parliamentary procedure, reconsideration of a motion may be done on a matter previously decided. The motion to "reconsider" is used for this purpose. This motion originated in the United States and is generally not used in parliaments. A special form of this motion is reconsider and enter on the minutes.

In parliamentary procedure, a motion to appeal from the decision of the chair is used to challenge a ruling of the chair.

In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take a particular action. These may include legislative motions, budgetary motions, supplementary budgetary motions, and petitionary motions.

In the United States, a parliamentarian is an expert on parliamentary procedure who advises organizations and deliberative assemblies. This sense of the term "parliamentarian" is distinct from the usage in parliamentary republics and monarchies as a synonym for member of parliament.

In United States parliamentary procedure, a suspension of the rules allows a deliberative assembly to set aside its normal rules to do something that it could not do otherwise. However, there are rules that cannot be suspended.

Debate in parliamentary procedure refers to discussion on the merits of a pending question; that is, whether it should or should not be agreed to. It is also commonly referred to as "discussion".

In a deliberative assembly, disciplinary procedures are used to punish members for violating the rules of the assembly.

In parliamentary procedure, requests and inquiries are motions used by members of a deliberative assembly to obtain information or to do or have something done that requires permission of the assembly. Except for a request to be excused from a duty, these requests and inquiries are not debatable nor amendable.

Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies. General principles of parliamentary procedure include rule of the majority with respect for the minority.

In parliamentary procedure, the verb to table has the opposite meaning in the United States from that of the rest of the world:

The floor of a legislature or chamber is the place where members sit and make speeches. When a person is speaking there formally, they are said to have the floor. The House of Commons and the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate all have "floors" with established procedures and protocols.

References

  1. 1 2 Demeter, George (1969). Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure, Blue Book, p. 4–5
  2. 1 2 Robert, Henry M.; et al. (2011). Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press. pp. xxxi. ISBN   978-0-306-82020-5.
  3. ↑ Robert 2011 , p. xxxii
  4. ↑ Robert 2011 , p. xxxiii
  5. ↑ Luce, Robert (1922). Legislative Procedure: Parliamentary Practices and the Course of Business. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. pp.  14.
  6. ↑ Jefferson, Thomas (1801). Manual of Parliamentary Practice. pp. xv.
  7. ↑ Deschler, Lewis. Rules and Manual. U.S. House. pp. vi.
  8. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures (2000). Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure, 2000 ed., p. 33–34
  9. ↑ "Historical Vignette 038 - An Army Engineer Brought Order to Church Meetings". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Office of History. November 2001. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  10. ↑ Robert 2011 , pp. xxvi–xxvii

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