Parliamentary procedure

thumb|upright=1.1|The facing benches of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are said to contribute to an adversarial style of debate. thumb|upright=1.1|The hemicycle of the House of Representatives of [[Japan]] thumb|upright=1.1|The National Council (Switzerland)|National Council of [[Switzerland]]

Voting is the process of making collective decisions by means of submitting and then adding up individual choices. The choice voted upon is often a candidate for office, but the object of a vote can be anything, for example what kind of food to buy or whether a defendant is innocent or guilty. Voting can be formal, using ballots and specific rules, or informal using raised hands, shouts (such as when the voice vote is used), or movement to indicate preference.

form of government

form of government

leading or presiding officer of an organized group

thumb|right|250px|Committee room, designed in 1901, in Halifax Town Hall A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly or organization sends matters to a committee as a way to explore them more fully than would be possible if the whole assembly or organization were considering them. Committees may have different functions and their types of work differ depending on the type of organization and its ne

A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other government body, establishes the degree of control that the by-laws may exercise. By-laws may be established by entities such as a business corporation, a neighbourhood association, or depending on the jurisdiction, a municipality.

thumb|right|Vote cast against Themistocles. A quorum of 6,000 was required for [[ostracism under the Athenian democracy, according to Plutarch; a similar quorum was necessary in the following century for grants of citizenship.]] A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of that group. In contrast, a plenum is a meeting of the full (or rarely nearly full) body. A body, or a meeting or vote of it, is

written declaration adopted by a deliberative body

thumb|The minutes of the first meeting of the Hawkes Bay Earthquake Relief Fund Committee Minutes (), also known as minutes of meeting, protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a statement of the activities considered by the participants, and related responses or decisions for the activities. The word "minutes" here means "notes", rather than sixtieths of an hour.

thumb|right|252px|United States Senator Warren R. Austin speaking during an all-night filibuster

An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They are often used when it is better to change the document than to write a new one. Only the legislative branch is involved in the amendment process.

organization that uses parliamentary procedure to make decisions

body of rules, ethics and customs governing meetings and other operations of legislative bodies and other deliberative assemblies

list of items to be taken up during a meeting

A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet/hammer commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the capacity of a presiding officer. It is often struck against a sound block, a striking surface typically also made of hardwood, to enhance its sounding qualities. It is primarily used in live auctions.

dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election, at the regular expiry of a term or often specifically referring to a premature end (depending on the constitutional system)

immunity of a member of parliament from prosecution

ornamental staff to show authority rather than as an actual weapon

1876 book by Henry Martyn Robert

parliamentary procedures

vote an official can cast to resolve a tie or deadlock, which they cannot normally cast

ending (a meeting) without a date of reconvening

Norman French phrase used in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

words that offend the dignity of an assembly

system where voters vote simultaneously for both prime minister and members of legislature

voting methods in deliberative assemblies

in some parliaments a bill introduced by a member not on behalf of the executive government

British parliamentary procedure

In the Roman republic, a '''' (from Latin , "ask, place a question before") is a proposed piece of legislation. All legislation during the republic was moved before an assembly of the people. The rogatio'' procedure underscores the fact that the Roman Senate could issue decrees, but was not a legislative body. Only the people, organised in an assembly, could pass legislation.

Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the period of such a discontinuance between two legislative sessions of a legislative body.