INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

Question 1

What is parliamentary procedure for Britannica?

Answer 1

Britannica defines Parliamentary Procedure also called Rules of Order, as the generally accepted rules, precedents, and practices commonly employed in the governance of deliberative assemblies.

Such rules are intended to maintain decorum, to ascertain the will of the majority, to preserve the rights of the minority, and to facilitate the orderly transaction of the business assembly.

Question 2

What is parliamentary procedure according to Municipal Research and Service Center?

Answer 2

Parliamentary procedure provides the process for proposing, amending, approving and defeating legislative motions. Although following parliamentary procedure is not required, it can make council meetings more efficient and reduces the chances of council actions being declared illegal or challenged for procedural deficiencies.

Question 3

What is Parliamentary Procedure in general?

Answer 3

A city may adopt, by ordinance or resolution, its own set of rules governing the conduct of council meetings, or it may adopt by reference formalized rules such as Robert’s Rules of Order. Many Washington cities have adopted Robert’s Rules, supplementing those rules with additional rules on issues such as voting abstentions and motions for reconsideration.”

Consider parliamentary as the traffic rules of legislators. It is something they have to follow even if they really want to breeze through all the traffic lights to arrive at a destination. Alas, no matter the desire to arrive at the destination at the soonest possible time, drivers have rules to follow.

Question 4

What are guidelines provided by the rules (Scott A. Lukas)?

Answer 4

In the historical sense, parliamentary law referred to the customs and rules related to business in the English Parliament. These rules provided the following guidelines:

1. Treat one subject at a time
2. Alternate between opposite points of view in discussion
3. Always have the chair tally votes for both sides of the issue
4. Maintain decorum in discussion and avoiding personalities in debate
5. Confine debate to the merits of the question under discussion (PLI 1995:4)
6. Division of a question—members may be for one part of a question and not for another (Robert 1981:xxxi).