Roberts Rules of Order

Robert's Rules of Order

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Title: Robert's Rules of Order Pocket Manual of Rules Of Order For
Deliberative Assemblies
Author: Henry M. Robert
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9097] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 5,

2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROBERT'S
RULES OF ORDER ***

Produced by Randyl Kent Plampin

ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER
=== Page 1 ===
Pocket Manual of Rules Of Order For Deliberative Assemblies
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Part I.
Rules of Order.
A Compendium of Parliamentary Law, based upon the rules and
practice of Congress.

Part II.
Organization and Conduct Of Business.

A simple explanation of the methods of organizing and conducting the
business of societies, conventions, and other deliberative assemblies.
By Major Henry M. Robert, Corps of Engineers, U.S.A.
Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Company. 1876.
=== Page 2 ===
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Copyright, A.D. 1876, by H. M. Robert
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Printed by Burdick & Armitage, Milwaukee
=== Page 3 ===
PREFACE.
There appears to be much needed a work on parliamentary law, based,
in its general principles, upon the rules and practice of Congress, and
adapted, in its details, to the use of ordinary societies. Such a work
should give, not only the methods of organizing and conducting the
meetings, the duties of the officers and the names of the ordinary
motions, but in addition, should state in a systematic manner, in
reference to each motion, its object and effect; whether it can be
amended or debated; if debatable, the extent to which it opens the main
question to debate; the circumstances under which it can be made, and
what other motions can be made while it is pending. This Manual has
been prepared with a view to supplying the above information in a
condensed and systematic manner, each rule being either complete in
itself, or giving references to every section that in any way qualifies it,
so that a stranger to the work can refer to any special subject with
safety.
To aid in quickly referring to as many as possible of the rules relating
to each motion, there is placed immediately before the Index, a Table

of Rules, which enables one, without turning a page, to find the
answers to some two hundred questions. The Table of Rules is so
arranged as to greatly assist the reader in systematizing his knowledge
of parliamentary law.
The second part is a simple explanation of the common methods of
conducting business in ordinary
=== Page 4 ===
meetings, in which the motions are classified according to their uses,
and those used for a similar purpose compared together. This part is
expressly intended for that large class of the community, who are
unfamiliar with parliamentary usages and are unwilling to devote much
study to the subject, but would be glad with little labor to learn enough
to enable them to take part in meetings of deliberative assemblies
without fear of being out of order. The object of Rules of Order in
deliberative assemblies, is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work
for which it was designed, in the best possible manner. To do this, it is
necessary to somewhat restrain the individual, as the right of an
individual in any community to do what he pleases, is incompatible
with the best interests of the whole. Where there is no law, but every
man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty.
Experience has shown the importance of definiteness in the law, and in
this country, where customs are so slightly established and the
published manuals of parliamentary practice so conflicting, no society
should attempt to conduct business without having adopted some work
upon the subject, as the authority in all cases not covered