Roberts Rules of Order | Page 9

assembly may appoint another time for their consideration. If not taken up on the day specified, the order falls to the ground.
When the Orders of the Day are taken up, it is necessary to take up the separate questions in their exact order, the one first assigned to the day or hour, taking precedence of one afterwards assigned to the same day or hour. (A motion to take up a particular part of the Orders of the Day, or a certain question is not a privileged motion). Any of the subjects, when taken up, instead of being then considered, can be assigned to some other time.
The Form of this question, as put by the Chair when the proper time arrives, or on the call of a member, is, "Shall the Order of the Day be taken up?" or, "Will the assembly now proceed with the Orders of the Day?"
The Effect of an affirmative vote on a call for the Orders of the Day, is to remove the question under consideration from before the assembly, the same as if it had been interrupted by an adjournment [�� 11].
The Effect of a negative vote is to dispense
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with the orders merely so far as they interfere with the consideration of the question then before the assembly.
Incidental Motions. [��� 14-18; see �� 8]
14. Appeal [Questions of Order]. A Question of Order takes precedence of the question giving rise to it, and must be decided by the presiding officer without debate. If a member objects to the decision, he says, "I appeal from the decision of the Chair." If the Appeal is seconded, the Chairman immediately states the question as follows: "Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgement of the assembly?"* [The word Assembly can be replaced by Society, Convention, Board, etc., according to the name of the organization.] This Appeal yields to Privileged Questions [�� 9]. It cannot be amended; it cannot be debated when it relates simply to indecorum [�� 36], or to transgressions of the rules of speaking, or to the priority of business, or if it is made while the previous question [�� 20] is pending. When debatable, no member is allowed to speak but once, and whether debatable or not, the presiding officer, without leaving the
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Chair, can state the reasons upon which he bases his decision. The motions to Lie on the Table [�� 19], or for the Previous Question [�� 20], can be applied to an Appeal, when it is debatable, and when adopted they affect nothing but the Appeal. The vote on an Appeal may also be reconsidered [�� 27]. An Appeal is not in order when another Appeal is pending.
It is the duty of the presiding officer to enforce the rules and orders of the assembly, without debate or delay. It is also the right of every member, who notices a breach of a rule to insist upon its enforcement. In such cases he shall rise from his seat, and say, "Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order." The speaker should immediately take his seat, and the Chairman requests the member to state his point of order, which he does, and resumes his seat. The Chair decides the point, and then, if no appeal is taken, permits the first member to resume his speech. If the member's remarks are decided to be improper, and any one objects to his continuing his speech, he cannot continue it without a vote of the assembly to that effect. Instead of the method just described, it is usual, when it is simply a case of improper language used in debate, for a member to say, "I call the gentleman to order;" the Chairman
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decides whether the speaker is in or out of order, and proceeds as before. The Chairman can ask the advice of members when he has to decide questions of order, but the advice must be given sitting, to avoid the appearance of debate; or the Chair, when unable to decide the question, may at once submit it to the assembly. The effect of laying an appeal on the table, is to sustain, at least for the time, the decision of the Chair, and does not carry to the table the question which gave rise to the question of Order.
15. Objection to the Consideration a Question. An objection can be made to any principal motion [�� 6], but only when it is first introduced, before it has been debated. It is similar to a question of order [�� 14,] in that it can be made while another member has the floor, and does not require a second; and as the Chairman can call a member to order, so can he put this question if he deems