Roberts Rules of Order | Page 8

Fix the Time to which the Assembly shall Adjourn. This motion takes precedence of all others, and is in order even after the assembly has voted to adjourn, provided the Chairman has not announced the result of the vote. If made when another question is before the assembly, it is undebatable [�� 35]; it can be amended by altering the time. If made when no other question is before the assembly, it stands as any other principal motion, and is debatable.** [In ordinary societies it is better to follow the common parliamentary law, and permit this question to be introduced as a principal question, when it can be debated and suppressed [�� 58, 59] like other questions. In Congress, it is never debatable, and has entirely superseded the unprivileged and inferior motion to "adjourn to a particular time."]
The form of this motion is, "When this assembly
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adjourns, it adjourns to meet at such a time."
11. To Adjourn. This motion (when unqualified) takes precedence of all others, except to "fix the time to which to adjourn," to which it yields. It is not debatable, and cannot be amended, or have any other subsidiary motion [�� 7] applied to it. If qualified in any way it loses its privileged character, and stands as any other principal motion. The motion to adjourn can be repeated if there has been any intervening business, though it be simply progress in debate [�� 26]. When a committee is through with any business referred to it, and prepared to report, instead of adjourning, a motion should be made "to rise," which motion, in committee, has the same privileges as to adjourn in the assembly [�� 32].
The effect upon Unfinished Business of an adjournment is as follows* ["After six days from the commencement of a second or subsequent session of any Congress, all bills, resolutions and reports which originated in the House, and at the close of the next preceding session remained undetermined, shall be resumed, and acted on in the same manner as if an adjournment had not taken place." Rule 136, H. R. Any ordinary society that meets as seldom as once each year, is apt to be composed of as different membership at its successive meetings, as any two successive Congresses, and only trouble would result from allowing finished business to hold over to the next yearly meeting.] [see Session, �� 42]:
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(a) When it does not close the session, the business interrupted by the adjournment is the first in order after the reading of the minutes at the next meeting, and is treated the same as if there had been no adjournment; an adjourned meeting being legally the continuation of the meeting of which it is an adjournment.
(b) When it closes a session in an assembly which has more than one regular session each year, then the unfinished business is taken up at the next succeeding session previous to new business, and treated the same as if there had been no adjournment [see �� 44, for its place in the order of business]. Provided, that, in a body elected for a definite time (as a board of directors elected for one year), unfinished business falls to the ground with the expiration of the term for which the board or any portion of them were elected.
(c) When the adjournment closes a session in an assembly which does not meet more frequently than once a year, or when the assembly is an elective body, and this session ends
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the term of a portion of the members, the adjournment shall put an end to all business unfinished at the close of the session. The business can be introduced at the next session, the same as if it had never been before the assembly.
12. Questions of Privilege. Questions relating to the rights and privileges of the assembly, or any of its members, take precedence of all other questions, except the two preceding, to which they yield. The Previous Question [�� 20] can be applied to these, as to all other debatable questions.
13. Orders of the Day. A call for the Orders of the Day takes precedence of every other motion, excepting to Reconsider [�� 27], and the three preceding, to which latter three it yields, and is not debatable, nor can it be amended. It does not require to be seconded.
When one or more subjects have been assigned to a particular day or hour, they become the Orders of the Day for that day or hour, and they cannot be considered before that time, except by a two-thirds vote [�� 39]. And when that day or hour arrives, if called up, they take precedence of all but the three
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preceding questions [��� 10, 11, 12]. Instead of considering them the