sine die

Adjournment ''sine die'' (from the Latin "without day") means " without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing."^[1]; for an indefinite period to adjourn an assembly sine die. A legislative body adjourns sine die when it adjourns without appointing a day on which to appear or assemble again. ^[2].

United States Usage

Adjournment sine die (sī'nĭ dī'ē, sĭn'ā dē'ā'),(sahy-nee dahy-ee, sin-ey-dee-ey; Lat. si-nedee-e) is an adjournment until the next session of Congress, there being two sessions to each numbered Congress - i.e., the 110th Congress met in 2007 (first session) and in 2008 (second session). Sine die adjournments in the Congress typically do not have a date certain, but rather are determined by the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate at a later time^[3].

It is often used in reference to legislatures whose terms or mandates are coming to an end, as in "The One Hundred Tenth Congress of the United States closed its second session today by adjourning sine die." This would mean that it is anticipated that this particular body will not meet again^[4]; the next session of the Congress would have a different membership: Some members would not be standing for election again, while others might not win reelection. However, a legislative body may be called back into special session.

A corporate board might adjourn 'sine die' if the corporation were being sold, merged, or liquidated.

A court may also adjourn a matter sine die, which means the matter is stayed permanently. This may be due to various reasons, for example if the case is started with a wrong procedure chosen the judge may adjourn the matter sine die so that the party may choose to start the action again with the correct procedure^[5].

The common pronunciation of sine die in the United States Congress is "SEE-nei DEE-ei".

References