Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/115

§ 44] It is customary for every society having a permanent existence to adopt an order of business for its meetings. When no rule has been adopted, the following is the order:

(1) Reading the Minutes of the previous meeting (and their approval).

(2) Reports of Standing Committees.

(3) Reports of Select Committees.

(4) Unfinished Business.

(5) New Business.

Boards of managers, trustees, etc., come under the head of standing committees. If a subject has been made a “special order” [§ 13] for the day, it takes precedence of all business except reading the minutes. The “orders of the day” [§ 13], which include business postponed to this meeting, come in with unfinished business.

If it is desired to transact business out of its order, it is necessary to suspend the rules [§ 18], which can only be done by a two-thirds vote; but, as each subject comes up, a majority can at once lay it on the table [§ 19], and thus reach any question which they desire to first dispose of.

The order of business, in considering any re-