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RULES AND ORDERS.

Of the President.

1.

THE President shall take the Chair every day at the hour to which the Convention shall have adjourned; shall call the Members to order; and, on the appearance of a quorum, shall cause the Journal of the preceding day to be read, and proceed to business.

2.

He shall preserve decorum and order; may speak to points of order in preference to other Members; and shall decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the Convention on motion regularly secconded; and no other business shall be in order till the question on the appeal shall have been decided.

3.

He shall declare all votes; but, if any Member doubts a vote, the President shall order a return of the number voting in the affirmative, and in the negative, without any further debate upon the question. When a vote is doubted, the Members for or against the question, when called on by the President, shall rise and stand uncovered till they are counted.

4.

He shall rise to put a question, or to address the Convention, but may read sitting.

5.

In all cases the President may vote.

6.

When the Convention shall determine to go into Committee of the whole, the President shall appoint the Member who shall take the Chair.

7.

On all questions and motions whatsoever, the President shall take the sense of the Convention by yeas and nays, provided one-fifth of the Members present shall so require. When the yeas and nays are taken, no Member shall be allowed to vote, who shall have entered the Convention after the calling of the roll is finished. The names of Members

shall be called in alphabetical order.

8.

He shall propound all questions, in the order in which they are moved, unless the subsequent motion be previous in its nature except that, in naming sums and fixing times, the largest sum and the longest time shall be put first.

9.

After a motion is stated or read by the President, it shall be deemed to be in possession of the Convention, and shall be disposed of by vote of the Convention; but the mover may withdraw it at any time before a decision or amendment, except a motion to reconsider, which shall not be withdrawn after the time has elapsed within which it could be originally made.

10.

When a question is under debate, the President shall receive no motion, but to adjourn, to lay on the table, for the previous question, to postpone to a day

certain, to commit, to amend, or to postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they stand arranged.

11.

He shall consider a motion to adjourn as always in order; and that motion, and the motions to lay on the table, to suspend any rule, to take up from the table, and for the yeas and nays, shall be decided without debate.

12.

He shall put the previous question in the following form: "Shall the main question be now put ?"— and all debate upon the main question shall be suspended, until the previous question shall be decided. After the adoption of the previous question, the sense of the Convention shall forthwith be taken upon amendments reported by a committee, upon pending amendments, and then upon the main question.

13.

On the previous question no Member shall speak more than once without leave; and all incidental questions of order, arising after a motion is made for the previous question, shall be decided without debate, excepting on appeal, and, on such appeal, no Member shall be allowed to speak more than once without leave of the Convention.

14.

When two or more Members happen to rise at once, the President shall name the Member who is first to speak.

15.

All Committees shall be appointed and announced by the President, unless otherwise specially directed by the Convention.

16.

The President shall have the right to name any Member to perform the duties of the Chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment.

17.

The President shall have the general direction of the Hall of the Convention, and of the Galleries. No person excepting Members, Officers, and attendants of the Convention, and such persons as may be invited by the Convention, or by the President, shall be admitted within the bar of the Convention. The Chairman of each Committee of the Whole, during the sitting of such Committee, shall have the like power of preserving order in the Hall and in the Galleries.

Of Absence of President.

18.

In case the President shall be absent at the hour to which the Convention was adjourned, the Secretary shall call the Convention to order, and shall preside until a President pro. tempore shall be elected, which shall be the first business of the Convention.

Of Members.
19.

A seat shall be assigned to each Member in such manner as the Convention shall determine, which shall not be changed without leave of the President.

20.

No Member in debate shall mention a Member then present by his name, but may describe him by

the town he represents, the place he sits in, or such other designations as may be intelligible and respectful.

21.

Every Member, when about to speak, shall rise and respectfully address the President, shall confine himself to the question under debate, and avoid personality, and shall sit down when he has finished. No Member shall speak out of his place without leave of the President.

22.

No Member speaking shall be interrupted by another, but by rising up to call to order.

23.

No Member shall speak more than twice on one question, without first obtaining leave of the Convention; nor more than once, until other Members, who have not spoken, shall speak, if they desire it.

Of Reconsideration.

24.

When a vote has passed, it shall be in order for any Member to move for a reconsideration thereof, on the same or the succeeding day and such motion shall be placed first in the orders of the day succeeding that on which the motion is made; a motion to reconsider being rejected shall not be renewed; nor shall any subject be a second time reconsidered: provided, however, that a motion to reconsider a vote, upon any collateral matter, shall not remove the main subject under consideration from before the Convention, but shall be considered at the time when it is made.

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