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- DictionaryPar·lia·men·ta·ry law
noun
- 1. the rules that govern the conduct of legislatures and other deliberative bodies.
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Mar 15, 2023 · The meaning of PARLIAMENTARY LAW is the rules and precedents governing the proceedings of deliberative assemblies and other organizations.
- Overview
- Origins and development
- Rules of parliamentary procedure
parliamentary procedure, the generally accepted rules, precedents, and practices commonly employed in the governance of deliberative assemblies. Such rules are intended to maintain decorum, to ascertain the will of the majority, to preserve the rights of the minority, and to facilitate the orderly transaction of the business of an assembly.
Rules of order originated in the early British Parliaments. In the 1560s Sir Thomas Smith wrote an early formal statement of procedures in the House of Commons, which was published in 1583. Lex Parliamentaria (1689; “Parliamentary Law”) was a pocket manual for members of Parliament and included many precedents that are now familiar. Drawing from the Journal of the House of Commons, it included points such as the following:
•1. One subject should be discussed at a time (adopted 1581).
•2. The chair must always call for the negative vote (1604).
•3. Personal attacks and indecorous behaviour are to be avoided in debate (1604): “He that digresseth from the Matter to fall upon the Person ought to be suppressed by the Speaker.…No reviling or nipping words must be used.”
•4. Debate must be limited to the merits of the question (1610): “A member speaking, and his speech, seeming impertinent, and there being much hissing and spitting, it was conceived for a Rule, that Mr. Speaker may stay impertinent speeches.”
Depending heavily on procedures developed in the British Parliament, colonists in America governed under written charters and grants, an experience that influenced the framing of state constitutions and the Constitution of the United States (1787). The first work to interpret and define parliamentary principles for the new American government was A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801), written by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
According to Robert’s Rules, a “deliberative assembly,” to which parliamentary law is ordinarily applied, has the following characteristics: it is an independent or autonomous group convened to determine actions of the group in free discussion; its size is sufficiently large that formal proceedings are necessary; its members are free to act, and each member’s vote has equal weight; failure to agree “does not constitute withdrawal from the body”; and members who are present act for the entire membership “subject only to such limitations as may be established by the body’s governing rules.”
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The will of such a deliberative assembly is expressed by its action on proposals submitted for consideration in the form of motions or resolutions offered by members. In order to make a motion, a member ordinarily must rise and address the chair and secure recognition. If the motion is considered in order and is seconded by another member, it is “stated” by the presiding officer and then is subject to the action of the assembly.
Motions may be classified as main motions, which introduce a proposition, or as secondary motions, which are designed to affect the main motion or its consideration. A main motion is in order only when there is no other business before an assembly. It yields in precedence to all other questions.
Secondary motions may be subdivided into (1) subsidiary, (2) incidental, and (3) privileged. Subsidiary motions are applicable to other motions for the purpose of modifying the main question or affecting its consideration and disposition. The subsidiary motion to lay on the table is, in American usage, a motion to suspend consideration of the question until such time as the assembly may determine to take it from the table for further consideration. The motion is not debatable and may not be amended, postponed, committed, divided, or reconsidered. The purpose of the motion for the previous question is to close debate peremptorily and bring the assembly to an immediate vote on the pending question. It precludes both debate and amendment and requires a two-thirds vote for passage under general parliamentary procedure. The motions to commit, recommit, and refer are practically equivalent.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
In the United States, it is referred to as parliamentary law, parliamentary practice, legislative procedure, rules of order, or Robert's rules of order. Rules of order consist of rules written by the body itself (often referred to as bylaws), usually supplemented by a published parliamentary authority adopted by the body.
Parliamentary law is the body of law which governs the conduct of the meeting of a legislative body. It is the rules and usages of parliament, or of deliberative bodies. A rule of parliamentary law is a rule created and adopted by the legislative or deliberative body it is intended to govern.
4 days ago · Parliament, the original legislative assembly of England, Scotland, or Ireland and successively of Great Britain and the United Kingdom; legislatures in some countries that were once British colonies are also known as parliaments. Hear about the history, its architecture, and working of the U.K. Parliament and how it evolved into what it is today.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Parliamentary law definition: the body of rules, usages, and precedents that governs proceedings of legislative and deliberative assemblies.. See examples of PARLIAMENTARY LAW used in a sentence.
parliamentary law - The set of regulations and established practices that manage the operations of organizations and deliberative forums.
