sitting en banc Interpretation of "a simple majority vote ... sitting en banc"

[VolleKeepo]

The charters of student councils and the constitution of the Central Student Government both have provisions similar to "...approved by a simple majority vote of the assembly sitting en banc." There are no other modifiers other than "simple" and "en banc."

Does "the majority sitting en banc" mean the majority of the entire membership, of those present, or of those voting?

[Joshua Katz]

I have no idea.  Your organization will need to interpret its bylaws, we can't do that.  Sometimes I have a (meaningless) personal opinion, but I can't claim to have one here.  I know what en banc means in law, but have no idea how it would apply to a student government assembly.

[VolleKeepo]

I guess we could stick to Robert's definition of a majority, which is "of those voting."

"more than half of the votes cast by persons entitled to vote, excluding blanks or abstentions,"

[Richard Brown]

7 minutes ago, VolleKeepo said:

The charters of student councils and the constitution of the Central Student Government both have provisions similar to "...approved by a simple majority vote of the assembly sitting en banc." There are no other modifiers other than "simple" and "en banc."

Does "the majority sitting en banc" mean the majority of the entire membership, of those present, or of those voting?

For whatever my own opinion is worth, i would interpret the term to mean a majority vote of those present, which is actually the same thing as a majority of those present and voting.   Note that that is not the same thing as a "majority of those present" or "a vote of the majority of those present"..    Assume 100 members are present.  50 vote yes, 40 vote no and 10 abstain.  If a "majority vote" is required, the motion is adopted.  If a vote of "the majority of those present" is required, the motion would fail, as 50 is not a majority of 100.

RONR suggests the use of the term "majority vote" when the approval of the majority of those present and voting is required.  But, when the approval of the majority of those present is required, RONR suggests slightly different wording that removes all ambiguity.  In such cases, RONR suggests "the vote of a majority of the members present".  Instead of "majority vote", it is "the vote of a majority".  It is a subtle but very important distinction.

Note:  The quoted language is also subject to being interpreted to mean a vote of the majority of the members present.  That is the problem caused by using wording other than that suggested by RONR which has been refined over more than a hundred years.  Ultimately, it is up to this society to interpret its own bylaw provision.

Also, the term "en banc" means "the full court", but it doesn't mean that each and every member of the court must be present.  Some might well be absent due to illness or being unavailable or may recuse themselves from hearing a particular case.  I interpret the term, as used here, as meaning "a meeting of the group that will be deciding the issue before them".  If we are discussing the student senate, then it means a meeting of the student senate. 

[Joshua Katz]

59 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Also, the term "en banc" means "the full court", but it doesn't mean that each and every member of the court must be present.  Some might well be absent due to illness or being unavailable or may recuse themselves from hearing a particular case.

Or, if it's COA 9, it doesn't (generally) even mean that.  

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

"Majority vote" is what the bylaw says and that term is clearly defined by RONR as more than half the votes cast.