Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/98

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RULES OF ORDER.
[§ 39


To Amend the Rules (requires previous notice also) See § 45
To Suspend the Rules See § 18
To Make a Special Order See § 13
To Take up a Question out of its Proper Order See § 13
An Objection to the Consideration of a Question[1] See § 15
The Previous Question See § 20
To Close or Limit Debate See § 37

Note on Motions Requiring More than A Majority Vote.—Every motion in this list has the effect to suspend or change some rule or custom of deliberative bodies. Judging from their form, this would be true of only the first two, but a closer examination will show that the others have a similar effect.

To take up a question out of its proper order, is a change in the order of business.

An objection to the consideration of a question, if sustained, suspends or conflicts with the right of a member to introduce a measure to the assembly; a right which certainly has been established by custom, if it is not inherent to the very idea of a deliberative body. [Though Rule 41 H. R. allows a majority vote to decide this question, it is so inexpedient that the rule has not been taken advantage of lately.]

The Previous Question, and motions to close or limit debate, have the effect of forcing the assembly to take final action upon a question without allowing discussion; in other words, they suspend this fundamental principle of deliberative bodies, namely, that the assembly shall not be forced to final action on a

  1. The negative vote on considering the question must be two-thirds to dismiss the question for that session.