RULES OF ORDER. INTRODUCTORY. Like the common law of this country, which is based on that of England, the Rules of Order in our deliberative assemblies, are mainly derived from those of the mother country. Our national Congress, (with many modifications, however,) have adopted all the rules for conducting business. in Parliament, applicable to our republican institutions and form of government, and in the absence of any special laws of order, those laid down in Jefferson's Manual, which are a digest of those of the British Legislature, are considered good authority. Our State Legislatures copy, in general, the principal rules of order adopted in Congress. The States, however, differ, very essentially, in many particulars, although in all, the rules of the two houses of Congress may be con sidered as the basis of their several forms of proceeding. For Societies, Boards of Managers, Town Meetings, and the business meetings of local institutions in general, no fixed rules have ever been prepared and laid down in this country, and hence a great want of uniformity in the arrangement and mode of conducting the details of business, is apparent among us. Presiding officers, with some knowledge of legislative rules, find no difficulty in managing a meeting, because they bring this knowledge to bear; but those deficient in this particular, labor under great difficulty, and are constantly liable to serious embarrassment, especially should there be any among those over whom they preside, disposed to be troublesome or captious. The mode of conducting a business meeting for a Society, and the rules necessary for its government, are, in themselves, entirely simple and easily comprehended; but as they are not clearly expressed in any Legislative Manual, some study is necessary before they can be properly understood, and promptly and efficiently applied. And |