PARLIAMENTARY LAW

parliamentary law. The body of rules and precedents governing the proceedings of legislative bodies and other deliberative assemblies. — Also termed parliamentary procedure. [Cases: Parliamentary Law  1. C.J.S. Parliamentary Law § 1.]

“Thomas Jefferson speaks of ‘the Parliamentary branch of the law.’ From this country’s beginning, it has been an underlying assumption of our culture that what has been authoritatively established as parliamentary law is law — in the sense of being binding within all assemblies except as they may adopt special rules varying from the general parliamentary law.” Henry M. Robert, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised xxvi (10th ed. 2000).

“Parliamentary law differs somewhat from the other branches of common law in that it is based in an important measure upon precedents of legislative and administrative bodies. Particularly in America, however, where the courts have the power to make final decisions on all constitutional questions, the law has been evolving upon the basis of court decisions, and a considerable volume of judicial precedents has accumulated. The application of parliamentary rules to new situations is subject to the same rules of reasoning as the application of established common law rules to new legal situations.” National Conference of State Legislatures, Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure § 44, at 40–41 (2000).

common parliamentary law. 1. See general parliamentary law. 2. The common law as applied to parliamentary law; parliamentary law as it is found in judicial decisions.

general parliamentary law. The basic principles and practices of parliamentary law, as commonly understood among a meeting’s members based on their experience in other deliberative assemblies, that apply in the absence of adopted rules of order. • A parliamentary manual is evidence of the general parliamentary law. — Also termed common parliamentary law.

“A deliberative assembly that has not adopted any rules is commonly understood to hold itself bound by the rules and customs of the general parliamentary law — or common parliamentary law… — to the extent that there is agreement in the meeting body as to what these rules and practices are.” Henry M. Robert, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised § 1, at 3 (10th ed. 2000).

[Blacks Law 8th]