Parliamentary authority

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Parliamentary procedure. (Discuss)

A parliamentary authority is a manual on parliamentary law, containing rules of order for the transaction of business in deliberative assemblies.^[1] The society generally adopts such a book to cover meeting procedure not covered in the society's adopted procedural rules.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Practices

The most commonly used parliamentary authority in the United States is Robert's Rules of Order (correct title: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, tenth edition, and abbreviated as RONR) followed by The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (abbreviated as TSC and “Sturgis,” after the original author). A poll by Jim Slaughter surveyed CPPs in 1999, with the results published the results in the Parliamentary Journal in 2000; one question yielding what percent of clients used each PA: 90% RONR, 8% TSC, 3% other (Demeter, Riddick/Butcher, Bourinot, Davis). Bourinot's Rules of Order is used in Canada.^[5]

Rules in a parliamentary authority can be superseded by the group's constitution, bylaws or by adopted procedural rules (with a few exceptions). In RONR the adopted procedural rules are called special rules of order.

Assemblies that do not adopt a parliamentary authority may use an existing parliamentary authority by custom, or may consider themselves governed by the “common parliamentary law”,^[6] or “common law of parliamentary procedure”.^[7] RONR notes that 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. A mass meeting can adopt a parliamentary authority by a simple majority vote. RONR notes that “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.” ^[8]

Some societies write their own parliamentary authority for use specifically for their own assembly.^{[citation needed]}

Examples

• Bourinot's Rules of Order
• Jefferson's Manual
• Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure
• Morin code
• Riddick's Rules of Procedure
• Robert's Rules of Order
• The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure

References

See also

• Rules of order

Further reading

Non-legislative authorities

• Canada
  • Kerr, M. Kaye; King, Hubert W. (1996). Procedures for Meetings and Organizations (3rd ed.). Toronto: Carswell Legal Publications. ISBN 0-459-56034-4. 
  • Morin, Victor. Procédure des assemblées délibérantes. 
  • Stanford, Geoffrey H. (1995). Bourinot's Rules of Order (4th ed.). Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-8336-X. 
• United States
  • Robert, Henry M. (2000). Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing. ISBN 073820384X. http://www.robertsrules.com/book.html.  (PB). ISBN 0-7382-0307-6. 
  • AIP, Revision Committee; Alice Sturgis (2001). The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (4th ed.). NewYork: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-136513-3. http://www.parliamentaryprocedure.org/bookstore.htm. 
  • Demeter, George (1969). Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure (Blue Book ed.). Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-18030-0. 
  • Randolph, Mary; Rempel, Ann (2005). Fundamentals of Parliamentary Law and Procedure (3rd ed.). American Institute of Parliamentarians. ISBN 0840381352. 
  • Cannon, Hugh (2000). Cannon's Concise Guide to Rules of Order. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395621305. 
  • 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. ISBN 0819180645. 
  • Robert McConnell Productions. Webster's New World: Robert's Rules of Order Simplified and Applied. 

Legislative authorities

• Australia
  • Australian House of Representatives Practice
• 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. ISBN 0-459-32481-0. **
• United Kingdom
  • McKay, Sir William (2004). Erskine May's Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament (23rd ed.). London: Butterworths Law. ISBN 9780406970947. 
• United States
  • Sullivan, John V. (2007). Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives 110th Congress. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. ISBN 9780160789731. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hrm/browse_109.html. 
  • National Conference of State Legislators (2000). Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure. Eagan, MN: West Group. ISBN 1-58024-116-6. http://www.ncsl.org/programs/pubs/summaries/017180-sum.htm. 
  • Jefferson, Thomas (1801). Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1st ed.). Washington, DC: Samuel Harrison Smith. http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-mpp.htm. 

Comparative

• AIP (2003). Comparisons of Parliamentary Authority. Wilmington, DE: AIP Education Department.  A self-study quiz book keyed to RONR (10th), TSC (4th), Demeter's Manual (Blue book ed.) and Riddick's Rules of Procedure.

• NAP (1997). Parliamentary Parallels : a comparison of the similarities and differences of major parliamentary authorities. Independence, MO: National Association of Parliamentarians. ISBN 1-884048-23-4.  Compares seven Parliamentary Authorities; however, it uses RONR (9th ed.) and TSC (3rd ed.) in the comparison.

External links

• The Official Robert's Rules site
• The Advantages of Mason's Manual for Legislative Bodies
• Full text of U.S. Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives
• Searching for Procedural Rules for Decision Making in Policy Governance