WHAT CONSTITUTES.

QUORUM.

A quorum of the House for the purpose of choosing the President of the United States shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the States. (See Constitution, Amendments, Art. 12, p. 29.)

"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second year by the people of the several States" (Const., 1, 2, 1, 1), and "a majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent Members in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.-Constitution, 1, 5, 1, 5.

In view of the foregoing clauses of the Constitution, it was decided, during the Thirty-seventh Congress, to which several of the States had failed to send Representatives, that a majority of the members chosen constituted a quorum to do business.Journal, 1, 37, p. 117.

It has long been a disputed question, in cases of death or resignation of Members, whether the quorum of the House required to do business consisted of a majority of a full House or a majority of the Members actually borne on the roll.

It is still "an open question whether or not it requires a majority of all the Members who might under the law be elected to the House to constitute a quorum, or merely a majority of those who are Members of the House."-Speaker Carlisle, Congressional Record, 1, 49, p. 4338. Speaker Reed expressed the opinion that a majority of those chosen and living was intended.-Journal, 2, 51, p. 370. Speaker Randall intimated a similar opinion in the second session of the Forty-fifth Congress, February 25, 1879. The opinion of Speaker Reed is supported by the prevailing practice in the Senate.-(See Senate Journal, 1, 53, October, 1893.)

Since the present House, when there are no vacancies, consists of 356 Members, 179 constitute a quorum.

One-fifth of a quorum i. e., 36 may demand tellers on any vote.-Rule 1, clause 5.

A majority of a standing or select committee constitutes a quorum for business. (See Manual, p. 139.)

IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

A quorum of a Committee of the Whole is the same as that of the House.

One-fifth of a quorum may demand tellers on any vote in Committee of the Whole in like manner as in the House.

It is customary for the Chairman to order the vote to be taken by tellers when on a division the point is made that no quorum has voted.

A quorum is not required in Committee of the Whole on a motion to rise.

Whenever a Committee of the Whole House finds itself without a quorum, the chairman shall cause the roll to be called, and thereupon the committee shall rise, and the chairman shall report the names of the absentees to the House, which shall be entered on the Journal; but if on such call a quorum shall appear, the committee shall thereupon resume its sitting without further order of the House.-Rule XXIII, clause 2.

When the failure of a quorum is disclosed, pursuant to the foregoing rule, the roll is called as of course, without order of the committee.

The absence of a quorum being disclosed in Committee of the Whole, the roll is called but once.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 237.

PROCEEDINGS IN ORDER IN THE ABSENCE OF.

In the absence of a quorum, fifteen Members, including the Speaker, if there is one, shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent Members, and in all calls of the House the names of the Members shall be called by the Clerk, and the absentees noted; the doors shall then be closed, and those for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found, by officers to be appointed by the Sergeant-atArms for that purpose, and their attendance secured; and the House shall determine upon what condition they shall be discharged. Members who voluntarily appear shall, unless the House otherwise direct, be immediately admitted to the Hall of the House, and they shall report their names to the Clerk to be entered upon the Journal as present.-Rule XV, clause 3.

In the absence of a quorum, a motion to summon a Member to the bar to answer for contempt and violation of rule was, in refusing to vote was held not in order.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 211.

Where less than a quorum is present, a motion to take a recess is not in order; and no motion is in order except for a call or to adjourn.-Journals, 1, 29, p. 356; 2, 29, p. 343; 2, 32, p.

388.

In the Forty-eighth Congress it was held to be in order to move a recess in the absence of a quorum, a quorum being of course required to vote on such motion.-Cong. Record, 1, 48, p. 1217. It was subsequently held that a recess can not be taken even by unanimous consent when the record discloses the absence of a quorum.-Journal, 2, 52, p. 105.

The failure of a quorum being disclosed, and a motion to adjourn being thereupon made, it is not in order, pending the latter motion, to entertain a motion to fix a day to which the House shall adjourn.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 188.

No quorum appearing, a motion to adjourn is submitted; whereupon the yeas and nays being taken a quorum appears and the question is decided in the affirmative; but before the result is announced a motion is made to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn: Held, That the latter motion can not be entertained, for while the result discloses a quorum present it also shows that the House has decided to adjourn -Journal, 2, 53, p. 188.

Where the rule (or order of the House) fixes an hour for taking a recess, it is not necessary that a quorum should be present at the hour so fixed in order that the Speaker may declare the House in recess.-Journal 1, 51, pp. 915, 916.

When, from counting the House on a division, it appears that there is not a quorum, the matter continues exactly in the state in which it was before the division.-Manual, p. 170. A quorum is not required to vote on the question of ordering the yeas and nays.-Journal, 1, 45, p. 290. Nor on the question of reconsidering the vote by which the yeas and nays have been ordered or refused.-Congressional Record, 1, 50, p. 7546.

Ordering the yeas and nays is a proceeding by which the method of taking a vote is determined, is not the transaction of business, and does not require a quorum.-Journal, 2,50, p. 204.

A smaller number than a quorum may adjourn from day to day.

A quorum is never required to decide any question incidental to a call of the House.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 177.

A quorum is not required to order a call of the House, or dispense with further proceedings under a call.-Record, 2, 43, p. 1731.

A quorum was held to be required to discharge the Sergeantat-Arms from further proceeding on a warrant of arrest continued in force after the call of the House had terminated.Journal, 2, 53, pp. 318, 319.

During a call of the House, a quorum is not required to excuse a Member from attendance; nor to determine the question of reconsidering the vote by which a Member has been excused.— Journal, 2, 52, p. 77. But a quorum is required to grant a leave of absence.-Journal, 2, 53, pp. 327, 328. (See Call of House; Absent Members.)

HOW ASCERTAINED.

The presence of a quorum is presumed unless the contrary is disclosed by some proceeding of the House appearing in the Journal. Journal, 2, 52, p. 33.

Where the roll call discloses the absence of a quorum, the Chair can not go outside of the record in deciding as to the presence of a quorum.-Journal, 1, 44, p. 1078.

When a vote taken by yeas and nays shows that no quorum has voted, it is the duty of the Chair, under the Constitution (1, 5, 1, 5), to take notice of that fact.-Journal, 1, 48, pp. 1385, 1386.

After a vote taken upon a division tellers were demanded and refused.-Held, that it was then too late to make the point of no quorum.-Speaker Crisp, Journal, 2, 52, p. 53.

A vote having been taken upon a division, and thereupon the yeas and nays having been demanded and refused, it was held that the right to make the point of no quorum voting was thereby waived.-Journal, 2, 52, p. 58; 1, 53, p. 30.

When on a division either in the House or in Committee of the Whole the point is made that no quorum has voted, it is customary for the Chair to order the vote to be taken by tellers.

Where the vote as announced by tellers shows no quorum

voting and a motion to adjourn or for a call of the House is interjected and voted down, it is customary to take the vote by tellers on the original question de novo, instead of continuing the count of additional votes.-Journal, 2, 52, p. 117.

Where the interruption, however, is very brief, and no confusion would thereby result, it would seem properly in the discretion of the Chair to permit the count to be continued where it was left off, instead of ordering an entire recount.

It appearing from the Journal that an order was made when, as appeared from the Journal, less than a quorum was present, such order should be treated as a nullity.-Journal, 3, 42, p. 447.

It is in order to move a call of the House, notwithstanding the fact that a quorum is actually present.-Speaker Crisp, Journal, 1, 52, p. 206.

If the failure of a quorum has been disclosed by a roll call, a quorum must appear of record before the House can proceed to business. (See Congressional Globe, 2, 30, p. 624.)

"If the point be raised, a gentleman addressing the Chair may be taken off the floor by any Member raising the point that no quorum is present. The question being so raised, the Chair, according to his judgment and on his own responsibility, can rule that no quorum is present. But when the roll call is resorted to, that is the last mode of certification, from which there is no appeal."-Speaker Blaine, Congressional Record, 2, 43, p. 1733, February, 1875. The practice of per mitting a Member to be taken off the floor by the point of no quorum, which still prevails in Parliament and in the Senate, has, however, for many years, been abandoned in the House of Representatives.

Under the practice of the House of Representatives a Member can not, upon a point of no quorum, be deprived of his right to proceed. After the approval of the Journal the failure of a quorum is only taken notice of when the same is disclosed by a vote on some question or upon a call of the House.-Journal, 2, 53, pp. 226, 227.

Pending the consideration of the rules reported in the Fortysixth Congress, an amendment to the rules was submitted, viz:

Amend Rule VIII by inserting after clause 1 the following:

Whenever a quorum fails to vote on any question, and objection is made for that cause, there shall be a call of the House, and the yeas and nays on