not to discover who of right may take part in the proceedings, but to secure an accurate list for publication in the minutes.

18. The most convenient mode of inquiring into qualifications of membership is by the appointment of a committee on credentials. The same committee may be empowered to inquire into and report upon rival claim, should any such be presented.

19. In case the right of any one to a seat should be questioned, it is customary to hear him in defence of his right. After this, should he be permitted to remain by vote of the assembly, he should participate no further in the proceedings on his case, and least of all should he vote. It is a violation of all principle for one to vote on a question personal to himself

20. All deliberative bodies are composed of individ uals, and some members may be absent from the ses sion. It becomes necessary, therefore, to decide in advance what number must be present to render proceedings valid. In some, as in the English Parliament, a few of the legislative bodies of this country, Boards of Managers, &c., the quorum is a definite number known beforehand. For instance, in the House of Commons, consisting of more than six hundred members, forty constitute a quorum; in the House of Lords, three. In Congress, and generally in the State Legislatures, it is an aliquot part of the whole. As a general thing, a majority of the whole constitutes the quorum in this country.

*"The term quorum (literally, of whom) is one of the words used in England in the Latin form of the commission to justices of the peace. The part of the document wherein the word occurs runs thus: We have assigned you, and every two or more of you, quorum aliquem vestrum, A, B, C, D, &c., unum esse volumus, i. e., of whom we will that any one of you, A, B, or C, &c., shall be one.' This made it necessary that certain individuals, who, in the language of the commission, were said to be of the quorum, should be present during the transaction of business." Blackstone's Commentaries, I. 352.

21. In those representative bodies the number of whose constituencies has been determined by constitutional provision or by law-as, e. g., legislative assemblies the quorum consists (if not otherwise provided) of the majority; not of those who are in attendance, but of the number who ought to have been elected and returned from the different election districts recognized by law. But in those that have no definite number of constituencies,―as, e. g., those constituted on a pecuniary basis,-the quorum, if any at all, must consist of the majority of those who are present and answer to the roll-call.

22. Local churches, having independence and sovereignty,―as, e. g., Congregational and Baptist, constitute deliberative bodies. These, as a general rule, require the attendance of their members, but, so far as known, the question of the quorum is but seldom, if ever, raised. Those, who are present at the time and place appointed by regular authority for the meeting, constitute the church in session, and are competent to transact business. Like the House of Peers in England, which they resemble also in the fact that they are not representative bodies, they act on the principle that but a few are absolutely necessary for the transaction of business. But it is always dangerous to decide questions eliciting division of sentiment, with the presence of less than a majority of the church. In such bodies as possess ecclesiastical power, as, e. g., Presbyterian Higher Judicatories and Protestant Episcopal Conventions, stress is of necessity laid upon the quorum. With Episcopalians, the quorum is an aliquot part of the whole with Presbyterians, a definite number. În Methodist Conferences, so far as known, the question. of the quorum is never raised.

23. Baptist Associations have, by constitutional provision, a definite number that may be members: since they are composed of messengers sent by churches known to be in the union. But as the number of which they are to be composed depends in part upon the variable membership in the churches, it can never be

known, in advance, of what number the body must consist. Besides, these associations are not properly representative bodies; for churches are not able to delegate their authority. They are mere societies, and have no ecclesiastical jurisdiction or powers. Comity would require that churches in their union should appoint messengers to these bodies; but they are not required to do so, and may, at times, omit it, if so disposed. There is, consequently, no definite number of which these bodies must be composed. If, then, in the absence of any provision on the subject, a District Association has any quorum, it must consist of the majority of those in attendance.

24. Such religious Conventions, Societies, and Unions as are constituted in whole or in part on a pecuniary basis, in the matter of the quorum, belong to the class of bodies whose numbers cannot be anticipated. Their quorum, then, in the nature of things, consists not of the greater part of a number designated in advance, nor even of those appointed, but only of a majority of those actually in attendance. The functions of these bodies, and the principles on which they are organized, rarely, if ever, furnish the occasion for raising the question of the quorum.

25. In bodies of definite numbers, and therefore whose quorum is known in advance, especially in legislative assemblies, no business can be regularly entered upon until a quorum is present; nor can the business be proceeded with when the members present are reduced below that number. The presiding officer therefore should not take the chair until the proper number is ascertained to be present, and should suspend proceedings immediately when notice is taken that the number present has fallen below a quorum. If, on a count, this be found to be a fact, the assembly should be immediately adjourned.

26. A smaller number than a quorum may adjourn from day to day; and some legislative bodies have by law given a smaller number than a quorum the power to compel the attendance of absent members.

SECT. VI.· OF THE RULES BY WHICH THEY ARE GOVERNED.

27. Every deliberative body must be necessarily placed under some rule. If, therefore, it has none of its own, it is of necessity placed under those which have been established by immemorial usage, and which have become a kind of common law on the subject. It can, however, after its organization, adopt special rules for its own government, modifying or even changing the common law. But, in cases not provided for by these special rules, it must be governed by the general code.

28. General parliamentary law is derived from the practice of the British Parliament, modified somewhat by congressional and legislative bodies in this country, partly, because of the difference of our institutions, and, partly, because experience has suggested improvements on the English method. (For the difference in the code in England and in America, see Chap. II.)

29. Congress and the State legislatures have special rules modifying the parliamentary law of this country; but they are all alike essentially governed by the common code. In those respects in which these bodies differ from one another on account of special rules, they are not models to be imitated by such assemblies as have not as yet formally adopted any rules. Care should be taken, therefore, not to apply to such a body the special rules of a State legislature, merely because it happens to meet within the bounds of a State; nor those of Congress merely because it happens to meet in the District of Columbia. General parliamentary law is the only code possessing supremacy over an assembly having no rules of its own. What general parliamentary law is will be shown hereafter in detail.

30. Every assembly can adopt rules for its own government; but none in this country can ordain rules for its successor. The authority of the rules expires with the session; and if they are operative in a succeeding body it is by virtue of a special vote adopting them.

SECT. VII.- OF THE MANNER OF TRANSACTING BUSINESS.

31. An assembly expresses its opinion, judgment, or will by orders or resolutions. "When it commands, it is by an order. But facts, principles, its own opinions and purposes are expressed in the form of resolutions." A vote is the method by which results are attained in any case. Whatever form, however, the question may assume, the mode of proceeding is always the same.

This

32. The assembly being organized, it is competent for any member to move an order or resolution. being seconded and stated from the chair, becomes in possession of the assembly, to be adopted, modified, postponed, rejected, or suppressed, according to its pleasure.

33. Questions are always decided by a majority of the votes when there is no rule to the contrary. Sometimes, however, by special rule, a number greater than a majority is required, and at other times a number less will suffice. Some propositions, to be carried, demand a unanimous vote. Examples of these various kinds will arise as we proceed. In the case of a tie vote, in most assemblies, a casting vote is given by the presiding officer. But he may decline to vote; in that event the proposition fails, on the principle that every measure, to be carried, requires the vote of a majority.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL PARLIAMENTARY LAW.

34. General parliamentary law is the code by which all deliberative bodies are governed until they establish a code of their own. The basis of this is found in