Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/76

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76
RULES OF ORDER.
[§ 32

be more appropriately “to agree to the resolutions,” or “to adopt the orders.”[1] If either of these latter motions is carried, the effect is to adopt the entire report of the committee.

After either of the above motions is made, the report is open to amendment, and the matter stands before the assembly exactly the same as if there had been no committee, and the subject had been introduced by the motion of the member who made the report. [See § 34 for his privileges in debate, and § 44 for the method of treating a report containing several propositions, when being considered by the assembly.]

32. Committee of the Whole. When an assembly has to consider a subject which it does not wish to refer to a committee, and yet where the subject-matter is not well digested and put into proper form for its definite action, or when, for any other reason, it is desirable for the assembly to consider a subject


  1. “To adopt” the report is the most common of these motions in ordinary societies, and is used regardless of the character of the report. Its effect is generally understood, which is not the case with the motion to accept, as shown in the note to § 30 [which see for common errors in acting upon reports]. The last paragraph of § 29 shows how the form of the report influences the effect of its adoption.