A. The Importance of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised
D. Using RONR When Motions Come into Conflict
1. Taking Precedence and Yielding
2. The Order of Precedence of Motions
3. Precedence of Incidental Motions
E. Standard Descriptive Characteristics of Motions
F. Using the Tables in the Back of RONR
G. Table of Contents and Index
A. THE IMPORTANCE OF ROBERT’S RULES OF ORDER NEWLY REVISED
The book you are now reading is a simple overview and introduction to meeting rules. The rules themselves are contained in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (abbreviated RONR), of which the twelfth is the current edition. If you are going to be involved in groups whose meetings are at all complex or deal with controversy, or if you are going to be an officer (especially the president) of any group, it is essential to go beyond this book and know how to look up the rules themselves in the rule book.
Robert’s Rules of Order is America’s foremost guide to parliamentary procedure. It is used by more organizations than any other parliamentary manual. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, twelfth edition, published in 2020, supersedes all earlier editions as the parliamentary authority in organizations that have adopted Robert’s Rules of Order in their bylaws. The rules contained in earlier editions differ significantly from those found in the current, twelfth edition, and the paragraph references contained in this brief book are to the twelfth edition only.
Because Robert’s Rules of Order has been in use for so long, some of the earliest editions are no longer protected by copyright. They have therefore been republished and revised by different writers with varying qualifications in parliamentary law. Some have even been given titles like “modern edition” or “twenty-first century.” None of these is the official, updated version.
It is important to get the right book. Other versions may be less expensive, but they will leave you looking in vain for a passage or a page that other group members have in front of them, and may not contain the rules that actually apply. Only the twelfth edition, with the title Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, is today’s official rule book. It is readily available at most bookstores. You can also order the book online through the Robert’s Rules Association website, www.robertsrules.com.
B. RONR AS A REFERENCE MANUAL
The RONR rule book is designed to provide an answer to nearly every question of parliamentary law that has so far been seen as possible to arise. At the same time, it is intended to convey an in-depth understanding of the subject overall, if read through. The resulting volume and detail may make reading the entire book seem daunting to many people. The average person may only occasionally be confronted with the small points that are necessarily dealt with if the book is to be fully useful. What you do need to know is how to locate, quickly, the rules that govern your particular situation somewhere in its 633 pages of text.
In short, it is important to understand how to use Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised as a reference manual during and before meetings. For things covered in this brief book, references are included to exact paragraphs in RONR so that you can easily find greater detail and the wording of the exact rules. However, because of this book’s introductory nature, many important subjects are not even touched on here, and you need to know how to look up those as well. The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to introduce you to the finding aids that will help you locate what you need in the rule book.
C. HOW RONR IS ORGANIZED
To begin, it is helpful to have a general idea of how Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised is organized. The book has twenty chapters, and each chapter has one or more sections, numbered consecutively from the beginning of the book (63 sections in all).
1. Fundamentals
The first five chapters contain a treatment of fundamental concepts presented in an order chosen to minimize the need for referring to topics not yet explained. The first section of Chapter I includes a discussion of the nature of a “deliberative assembly” (the sort of group to which parliamentary rules of procedure apply) and its common types. The second section contains an explanation of the different kinds of rules an organization or assembly may adopt.
Chapter II contains a detailed but essentially elementary description of the basic procedures for conducting business in a meeting, assuming that no motions except main motions are introduced. In Chapter III the classification of motions and their order of precedence (see below) are explained. Chapter IV describes the difference in meaning of “meeting” and “session” and their importance. It is placed at this point because these concepts frequently enter into all that follows. In Chapter V the main motion is thoroughly covered.
2. Motions
Chapters VI through IX contain the sections giving detailed coverage of each of the parliamentary motions. The sections covering the motions are constructed according to a uniform pattern that includes:
—a brief statement of the purpose of the motion;
—standard descriptive characteristics of the motion (see below);
—further rules and explanation; and
—form and example, in dialogue form whenever possible.
3. Body of Rules
Chapter X includes a full explanation of the renewal of motions, and also a brief section on dilatory and improper motions.
Chapters XI through XVI all deal with the conduct of business at meetings, considered apart from the detailed study of specific motions.1
Chapter XVII deals with procedure at “mass meetings” and the organization of a permanent society.
Chapters XVIII, XIX, and XX cover bylaws, conventions, and disciplinary procedures.
4. Charts, Tables, and Lists
One part of RONR is especially useful for finding quick information about many important rules. Near the back of the book, on pages that are tinted gray at the outer edges and numbered t1–t52, are found charts, tables, and lists. To learn how to use them, it is useful first to understand a little about a matter not otherwise covered in this brief book—what to do when motions come into conflict—and the system RONR uses for classifying certain common rules for each motion, called “Standard Descriptive Characteristics.”
D. USING RONR WHEN MOTIONS COME INTO CONFLICT
1. Taking Precedence and Yielding
As we have seen, only one main motion may be before the assembly for action, or be “pending,” at a time. We have also seen, however, that while a main motion is pending, certain motions that affect or interrupt consideration of the main motion may be moved. These are called secondary motions. Whichever motion, main or secondary, is directly before the group for action is called the immediately pending motion.
Suppose one motion—call it Motion A—is the immediately pending motion. It may be in order to move a secondary motion—Motion B—even though Motion A has not yet been disposed of. If that happens, Motion B temporarily displaces Motion A as the motion then directly before the group. In parliamentary terminology, Motion B becomes the immediately pending motion. If this is proper under the rules governing the two motions, we say that Motion B takes precedence over Motion A, and Motion A yields to Motion B.
For example, if a main motion is before the body, and someone offers an amendment, then the main motion yields to the amendment, which takes precedence over it and thus becomes the immediately pending motion.
Thus, one main and a number of secondary motions may be pending at one time, but only one motion can be immediately pending at any time. Any of the secondary motions described in this brief book can ordinarily be moved while a main motion is immediately pending, so a main motion normally yields to all secondary motions. [RONR (12th ed.) 5:3–8.]
What happens, however, when a secondary motion is immediately pending, and a member wishes to move another secondary motion? Rules have been developed to answer this question.
2. The Order of Precedence of Motions
Many of the secondary motions so far considered, as well as others not previously described in this book, are ranked in an Order of Precedence of Motions that is given in Chart I on page t4 in RONR. By consulting that chart, a simplified form of which is reproduced here, you can easily see that a higher-ranking motion on that list takes precedence over a motion listed lower than it on the list.
Thus, for example, the chart shows that the motion to Limit or Extend Limits of Debate can be moved while the motion to Commit is immediately pending, but the reverse is not true. Similarly, the motion to Limit or Extend Limits of Debate may not be moved while a motion to Recess is pending, since Recess is listed higher than Limit or Extend Limits of Debate. [RONR (12th ed.) 5:10–11.]
3. Precedence of Incidental Motions
Other secondary motions previously considered in this brief book—namely, Division of the Assembly, Motions Relating to Voting and the Polls, Point of Order, Appeal, and Suspend the Rules—are not assigned positions in the Order of Precedence of Motions. Instead, these motions (along with others not described here) deal with questions of procedure arising out of another motion or item of business to which they are incidental. Motions falling into this subclass of secondary motions, called incidental motions, are applicable in their own types of special circumstances. They take precedence over any other motions that may be pending when those special circumstances occur. For example, a Point of Order takes precedence over any pending motion in the particular circumstance of a breach of the rules.
How may one use RONR to determine when particular incidental motions are or are not in order? The answer—and the answers to a number of other questions about particular motions—are found in RONR’s coverage of each motion’s standard descriptive characteristics.
E. STANDARD DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTIONS
Sections 11 through 37 of RONR contain detailed descriptions of particular motions, with a section for each motion. Toward the beginning of each of these sections are eight numbered “standard descriptive characteristics” (SDCs). By consulting numbers 1 and 2 of these for any motion, it is possible to determine the circumstances in which the motion is or is not in order: which motions it yields to or takes precedence over (# 1); and what motions or situations it applies to and which motions are applicable to it (# 2).
The other standard descriptive characteristics quickly provide other useful information about the particular motion. Having read to this point in this brief book, you should understand all of these:
3. Is it in order when another has the floor?
4. Does it require a second?
5. Is it debatable?
6. Is it amendable?
7. What vote is needed for its adoption?
8. Can it be reconsidered?
It will be helpful to glance through the sections on the individual motions (§11 through §37) to note how the standard descriptive characteristics and the rest of the text are arranged so that you will know where to find a detail when the occasion arises. [RONR (12th ed.) 7:1–4.]
F. USING THE TABLES IN THE BACK OF RONR
It is often not necessary to page through RONR to the section on a particular motion to find out the rules that are contained in the book’s Standard Descriptive Characteristics (SDCs) 3–8. Instead, you may quickly look at Table II in the back of RONR. There, motions are listed alphabetically in rows and numbered individually for reference. There are columns for each of SDCs 3–8. Thus, it is possible to tell at a glance, for example, whether a particular motion may interrupt a speaker, or requires a two-thirds vote.
Another way to find much of the same information quickly is in Tables IV, V, VI, and VII. There, the information in SDCs 3–8 is arranged by rule; for example, Table IV contains alphabetical lists of motions that are in order when another has the floor and do not require a second, which are in order when another has the floor but must be seconded, and which are not in order when another has the floor but do not require a second.
Another useful feature is Table III, which contains a sample wording to be used when you are making each of the motions, with the motions again arranged in alphabetical order, with reference numbers exactly corresponding to those in Table II.
Table VIII summarizes the rules for counting election ballots and is particularly useful as a ready reference for tellers.
As described earlier in this chapter, for the thirteen ranking motions—those with a specific place in the Order of Precedence of Motions—Chart I gives, in diagram form, the elements of Standard Descriptive Characteristics 1 and 2.
G. TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX
Carefully looking at RONR’s table of contents, and frequently resorting to its index, should help you to find whatever else you need to know.
H. LEARNING MORE
Once you are familiar with the contents of this brief book, and know how to locate the rules in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, you are ready to take the next step in increasing your mastery of meeting rules.
The first four chapters of RONR, totaling 91 pages, lay a comprehensive foundation for understanding virtually all of the basic concepts and fundamentals. Attentively reading those pages is the next logical step after going through this book.
After that, you may be guided by what most interests you or what you have the greatest need for: Look in the second half of RONR, after its coverage of the rules governing each specific motion, for detailed discussion of Quorum, Order of Business, Debate, Voting, Officers, Committees, and the like.
For further information, the Robert’s Rules Association maintains a website, at www.robertsrules.com. On its “Question and Answer Forum” one may post queries and conduct discussion about any aspect of parliamentary procedure. The website also includes “RONR Official Interpretations” to deal with issues of parliamentary law arising between editions that RONR’s authors deem useful to address.
1. They cover quorum and order of business, assignment of the floor and debate, voting, nominations and elections, officers, minutes and officers’ reports, and boards and committees.
2. Motions marked with an asterisk have not been previously explained in this book but are summarized in Chapter 14.