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Suspending the Rules


mcfarland

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Robert's Rules allows a motion to suspend the rules, which is described in Section 25.

This does not include suspending the bylaws, unless the bylaws provision to be suspended is "in the nature of [a] rule[] of order" (RONR (11th ed.), p. 17, l. 23). A rule of order is a rule that relates "to the orderly transaction of business in meetings and to the duties of officers in that capacity." (RONR (11th ed.), p. 15, ll. 9–11)

As Mr. Huynh implies, it might be more useful to know what effect is desired by suspending the rules (and I'll probably allow the more experienced contributors to this forum to comment on your response).

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A motion to just "suspend the rules" is not valid. Such a motion is always worded as "I move to suspend the rules and...", where the wording following describes specifically the action you wish to take that would normally be against the rules. For example - "I move to suspend the rules and take up the report of the Building Committee" at a time when reports are not in order.
The motion must always specify what action you wish to take. Also as stated above, the bylaws, as a whole, are never suspendible

 

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9 hours ago, mcfarland said:

Is it possible to "suspend the rules" at a meeting?  Does this also include suspending the bylaws?

Most rules of order, with a few exceptions, can be suspended at a meeting. It depends upon the circumstances and the particular rule which it is desired to suspend.. Bylaws, with only a few exceptions, cannot be suspended. The most common exception is the one Alex M mentioned: Bylaw provisions which are in the nature of rules of order. 

Edited by Richard Brown
Deleted all but the first paragraph. Somehow it got screwed up
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2 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Most rules of order, with a few exceptions, can be suspended at a meeting. It depends upon the circumstances and the particular rule which it is desired to suspend.. Bylaws, with only a few exceptions, cannot be suspended. The most common exception is the one Alex him mention, Baila provisions which are in the nature of roots of water. They buy law provision which provides for its own suspension may also be suspended.

The most common exception is the one Alex M mention, by law provisions which are in the nature of roots of water. A bylaw provision which provides for its own suspension may also be suspended.

In order to more accurately answer your question, we need more information. 

You might want to ditch the dictation app or the Nawlins accent, whichever is easier.  :)

 

Edited by George Mervosh
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3 minutes ago, George Mervosh said:

You might want to ditch the dictation app or the Nawlins accent, whichever is easier.  :)

 

Yeah, I caught that just as soon as I posted it and tried correcting it but it was only making things worse. I finally deleted all but the first part of the first paragraph.

Edited by Richard Brown
Added last sentence
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15 minutes ago, George Mervosh said:

You might want to ditch the dictation app or the Nawlins accent, whichever is easier.  :)

 

Ditching the cell phone and using a real computer for posting would be the easiest option! The convenience of a cell phone is hard to give up, though!  I was hoping to get that corrected before somebody copied and pasted it for all of eternity! 🙂

 

Edited by Richard Brown
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1 hour ago, George Mervosh said:

[Quoting Richard Brown]: by law provisions which are in the nature of roots of water.

 

49 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

I was hoping to get that corrected before somebody copied and pasted it for all of eternity!

George, history thanks you. 🤣

Edited by Atul Kapur
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3 hours ago, Atul Kapur said:

George, history thanks you. 🤣

Having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Brown in New Orleans and elsewhere, I would have transcribed what he really said pretty much like the dictation app, but I'm not in the mood to test the goodwill of our un-wrathful moderators any longer with this.  :)

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