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4. Questions of privilege, being those that relate to the rights of the assembly or its members.

The foregoing classes will be considered in successive chapters.

59. Unanimous Consent. Motions are sometimes passed by uninimous consent without the formality of a vote. An assembly by unanimous consent may do anything which it is competent to do, and all contrary rules, either general or special, are set aside in the process. A body cannot do an unconstitutional act by unanimous consent, but it may suspend its bylaws.

VIII. MODIFYING MOTIONS.

60. Classes of Modifying Motions. A motion having been duly made, seconded, and stated by the chair, is before the house, and the order is upon its passage. Unless it is an undebatable motion, it is open for discussion, and at the close of the discussion may be voted upon and dismissed from the order of the day. While the motion is pending, however, it may be disposed of in any one of several ways. The motions for these various dispositions other than by direct vote are those over which confusion mostly arises. They are therefore to be avoided unless necessary. The question ought, in general, to come before the house for a fair vote on its own merits; and the member who has given thought to the preparation of a resolution is entitled to a fair consideration.

But inasmuch as not every motion as originally made expresses the will of the body, while often a modification of the motion might express it, and inasmuch as sometimes a motion as made is complex, and one part may be acceptable and another not, three kinds of motion are in order as to the modification of a question: (a) To amend; (b) to substitute; and (c) to divide.

61. Amendments. Every debatable motion except that to postpone indefinitely, and that to amend an amendment, may be amended. No undebatable motion can be amended, except that to fix the time to which to adjourn. The motion to amend takes precedence of the main question, and of this only.

Amendments may be of three classes,-(1) To strike out; (2) To insert; (3) To strike out and insert.

Any of these three forms may themselves be amended.

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62. The Amendment of an Amendment. ment may be amended, but an amendment to an amendment cannot be amended. As the main question yields to the amendment, so in turn the motion to amend yields to the motion to amend the amendment.

When the motion to amend the amendment has been put to vote, if the vote is in the affirmative, the motion is on “the amendment as amended.'' This motion is debatable, and if carried, opens to discussion “the motion as amended.''

If the amendment to the amendment is lost, the question recurs on the amendment; and if this is lost the question is on the original motion.

The passage of an amendment does not carry with it the passage of the main question as amended. A separate vote is required.

63. Substitutes. A substitute motion is to be used when the subject matter is not directly germane, or involves too wide a departure to be easily embraced in an amendment. It is not intended, however, to be used in introducing a wholly different matter of busi

ness.

64. Division of the Question. A motion to divide is intended to bring the parts of a motion before the house separately; and when it prevails discussion should be limited to the part of the motion under immediate consideration.

A motion to divide can be amended by an amendment germane to itself; that is, by a motion to divide differently.

The United States Senate holds to the rule that the motion to strike out A and insert B," is indivisible, but this rule ought not to be followed in ecclesiastical bodies, in which it is much simpler to treat this motion as divisible; and the division does not count as an

amendment to the amendment, but each division of the amendment may itself be once amended.

65. Effect of Subsidiary Motions on Amendments. If the previous question is voted while an amendment is pending, it applies both to the amendment and to the main question unless limited to the amendment. But a vote to lay an amendment on the table carries with it the main question.

66. Motions That May Not Be Amended. The motions that are not amendable are: To refuse to consider; to lay on the table; to postpone indefinitely; for the previous question; to adjourn; and all incidental questions.

An amendment to an amendment may not be further amended.

A motion to adjourn may not be amended except when no business is before the house; in which case it is amendable, especially if adjournment would dissolve the assembly.

67. Filling Blanks. Where a resolution is adopted having blanks to be filled, the filling of the blanks may be done either before or after the consideration of the resolution itself; and the same applies to a more formal instrument, as a constitution. The filling of

blanks is not subject to the formal restrictions that belong to amendments; and motions to insert different names or numbers may be considered in any convenient manner. If, for instance, a blank is to be filled with a date, the Chair may entertain any number of suggestions concerning a convenient date, and ask, not for a formal vote for or against each, but informally, "How many regard January 1 as the most suitable of the dates proposed?" and the other dates in order, beginning usually at the most remote date proposed, and so arriving at length at an expression of judgment that will finally take shape in a formal motion.

68. What Is Germane? An amendment must be germane to the main question. It may greatly modify or even directly oppose the intent of the main question, but it must not relate to entirely different matter.

The question "What is germane?'' is not always easy to answer. It does not of necessity imply that the amendment shall express the same idea, but only that its substance shall in some proper manner relate to that of the main question. If a motion is made "That this body condemn the higher criticism,' an amendment to strike out "condemn' and insert "approve" is entirely germane; but to strike out "higher criticism' and insert "the sale of liquor'' would not be germane.

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At a meeting of the Methodist General Conference, when the question of forbidden games was under discussion, one facetious member moved to amend by inserting after "dancing, card-playing and theatergoing," the words, "croquet, one old cat," and certain other games. His amendment was ruled out of order as not being offered in good faith; but it was certainly germane.

Often an amendment that is germane may be so offered as to reduce the motion to an absurdity, and make the original mover glad to vote against it; and some comical instances of this have occurred; but these belong rather to the wiles of the politician than to the brotherly atmosphere of religious assemblies.

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