A parliamentary authority is a book of rules for conducting business (parliamentary procedure) in deliberative assemblies.[1] Several different books have been used by legislative assemblies and by organizations' deliberative bodies.
Application to organizations
A group may create its own parliamentary rules and then adopt an authority to cover meeting procedure not covered in its rules[2][3][4] or vice versa. Rules in a parliamentary authority can be superseded by the group's constitution or bylaws or by adopted procedural rules (with a few exceptions). The adopted procedural rules may be called special rules of order.[5] The combined rules from all sources is called parliamentary procedure.
Assemblies that do not adopt a parliamentary authority may nonetheless use a parliamentary authority by custom or may consider themselves governed by "common parliamentary law" or the "common law of parliamentary procedure".[5][6] A society that has adopted bylaws that do not designate a parliamentary authority may adopt one by the same vote required to adopt special rules of order.[2] A mass meeting can adopt a parliamentary authority by a majority vote.[2] The book Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised states, "In matters on which an organization's adopted parliamentary authority is silent, provisions found in other works on parliamentary law may be persuasive – that is, they may carry weight in the absence of overriding reasons for following a different course – but they are not binding on the body."[5]
Robert's Rules of Order was first published in 1876 by Henry Martyn Robert. It has been revised several times by the original author and then by his successors. As of its publication in September 2020, the 12th edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised is the current official edition of the body of work known as "Robert's Rules of Order".[9] This body of work is the most popular and well-known parliamentary authority in the United States.[7]
Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure, first published in 1948 by George Demeter, is another parliamentary authority in North America. It is often favored by North American labor unions and Hellenic organizations.[10][11][12] As of 2016[update], Demeter is published by the American Institute of Parliamentarians.
Legislative assemblies
Legislative assemblies in all countries, because of their nature, tend to have specialized rules that differ from parliamentary procedure used by clubs and organizations.
Mason's Manual, originally written in 1935 by constitutional scholar and former California Senate staff member Paul Mason, and since his death revised and published by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), governs legislative procedures in instances where the state constitution, state statutes, and the chamber's rules are silent. According to the NCSL, one of the many reasons that most state legislatures use Mason's Manual instead of Robert's Rules of Order is because Robert's Rules applies best to private organizations and civic groups that do not meet in daily public sessions.[21]Mason's Manual, on the other hand, is geared specifically toward state legislative bodies.[21]
Legislative bodies at the local level, such as a city council or a county commission, function similarly to boards of societies and as such, have used Robert's Rules of Order.
References
^Gondin, William R. (1969). Dictionary of Parliamentary Procedure. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams. pp. 88, 90.
^Elder, David Russell, ed. (2018). "House of Representatives Practice" (Seventh ed.). Department of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
Riddick, Floyd M.; Buther, Mirian H. (1985). Riddick's Rules of Procedure: Modern Guide to Faster and More Effective Meetings. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN0-8191-8064-5.
Elder, David Russell, ed. (2018). House of Representatives Practice (7th ed.). Canberra: Department of the House of Representatives.
Canada
Fraser, Alistair; Dawson, W. F. (1988). Beauchesne's Parliamentary Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada (6th ed.). Scarborough, Ont: The Carswell Legal Pubns. ISBN0-459-32481-0.
United Kingdom
McKay, Sir William (2004). Erskine May's Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament (23rd ed.). London: Butterworths Law. ISBN978-0-406-97094-7.
Glazer, Barry; Education Department, American Institute of Parliamentarians (2015). Differences Between AIPSC and RONR. American Institute of Parliamentarians. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
NAP (1997). Parliamentary Parallels : a comparison of the similarities and differences of major parliamentary authorities. Independence, MO: National Association of Parliamentarians. ISBN1-884048-23-4. Compares seven Parliamentary Authorities; however, it uses RONR (9th ed.) and TSC (3rd ed.) in the comparison.