[19]. No business can regularly be entered upon until a quorum is present; nor can any business be regularly proceeded with when it appears that the members present are reduced below that number; consequently, the presiding officer ought not to take the chair until the proper number is ascertained to be present; and if, at any time, in the course of the proceedings, notice is taken that a quorum [p22] ]is not present, and, upon the members being counted by the presiding officer, such appears to be the fact, the assembly must be immediately adjourned.[Footnote 3] ]
Sect. II. Rules and Orders.
[20]. Every deliberative assembly, as has already been observed, is, by the fact alone of its existence, subject to those rules of proceeding, without which it could not accomplish the purposes of its creation. It may also provide rules for itself, either in the form of a general code established beforehand, or by the adoption, from time to time, during its sitting, of such special rules as it may find necessary.
[21]. When a code of rules is adopted beforehand, it is usual also to provide therein as to the mode in which they may be amended, repealed, or dispensed with. Where there is no such provision, it will be competent for the assembly to act at any time, and in the usual manner, upon questions of amendment [p23] ]or repeal; but in reference to dispensing with a rule, or suspending it, in a particular case, if there is no express provision on the subject, it seems that it can only be done by general consent.[Footnote 4] ]
[22]. When any of the rules, adopted by the assembly, or in force, relative to its manner of proceeding, is disregarded or infringed, every member has the right to take notice thereof and to require that the presiding officer, or any other whose duty it is, shall carry such rule into execution; and, in that case, the rule must be enforced, at once, without debate or delay. It is then too late to alter, repeal, or suspend the rule; so long as any one member insists upon its execution, it must be enforced.
Sect. III. Time of Meeting.
[23]. Every assembly
, which is not likely to finish its business at one sitting, will find it convenient to come to some order or resolution beforehand, as to the time of reassembling, [p24] ]after an adjournment; it being generally embarrassing to fix upon the hour for this purpose, at the time when the sitting is about to close, and in connection with the motion to adjourn.
Sect. IV. Principle of Decision.
[24]. The principle, upon which the decisions of all aggregate bodies, such as councils, corporations, and deliberative assemblies, are made, is that of the majority of votes or suffrages; and this rule holds not only in reference to questions and subjects, which admit only of an affirmative on one side, and a negative on the other, but also in reference to elections in which more than two persons may receive the suffrages.