Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/184

184 lowing is adopted: “That the Sergeant-atArms take into custody, and bring to the bar of the House, such of its members as are absent without the leave of the House.” A warrant signed by the presiding officer and attested by the clerk, with a list of absentees attached, is then given to the Sergeant-at-Arms, who immediately proceeds to arrest the absentees. When he appears with members under arrest, he proceeds to the Chairman’s desk (being announced by the doorkeeper in large bodies), followed by the arrested members, and makes his return. The Chairman arraigns each member separately, and asks what excuse he has to offer for being absent from the sittings of the. assembly without its leave. The member states his excuse, and a motion is made that he be discharged from custody and admitted to his seat either without payment of fees or after paying the fees. Until a member has paid the fees assessed against him he cannot vote or be recognized by the Chair for any purpose.