Concept
Motion (parliamentary procedure)
Related concepts (13)
Recess (break)
Recess is a general term for a period in which a group of people are temporarily dismissed from their duties. In education, recess is the American and Australian term (known as break or playtime in the UK), where students have a mid morning snack and play before having lunch after a few more lessons. Typically ten to thirty minutes, in elementary school where students are allowed to leave the school's interior to enter its adjacent outside park where they play on equipment such as slides and swings, play basketball, tetherball, study, make up any missing assignments or talk.
Voting methods in deliberative assemblies
Deliberative assemblies – bodies that use parliamentary procedure to arrive at decisions – use several methods of voting on motions (formal proposal by members of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action). 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. Voice voteRobert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) states that a voice vote (viva voce) is the usual method of voting on any motion that does not require more than a majority vote for its adoption.
Unanimous consent
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a proposal. Generally, in a meeting of a deliberative assembly, business is conducted using a formal procedure of motion, debate, and vote. However, if there are no objections, action could be taken by unanimous consent.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years, for a total of 100 senators. From 1789 to 1913, each senator was appointed by the state legislature of the state they represented.
Deliberative assembly
A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Merriam-Webster's definition excludes legislatures. In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly", and the expression became the basic term for a body of persons meeting to discuss and determine common action. Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised by Henry Martyn Robert describes the following characteristics of a deliberative assembly: A group of people meets to discuss and make decisions on behalf of the entire membership.
Robert's Rules of Order
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.
By-law
A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other government body, establishes the degree of control that the by-laws may exercise. By-laws may be established by entities such as a business corporation, a neighbourhood association, or depending on the jurisdiction, a municipality.
Committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more fully than would be possible if the assembly itself were considering them. Committees may have different functions and their types of work differ depending on the type of the organization and its needs. A member of a legislature may be delegated a committee assignment, which gives them the right to serve on a certain committee.
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together, they comprise the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The House's composition was established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of representatives who, pursuant to the Uniform Congressional District Act, sit in single member congressional districts allocated to each state on the basis of population as measured by the United States census, with each district having one representative, provided that each state is entitled to at least one.
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its 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.