disciplinary procedures In a deliberative assembly, disciplinary procedures are used to punish members for violating the rules of the assembly. Codes and rules According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), discipline could include censure, fine, suspension ...

, the

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...

to declare the chair vacant is used as a remedy to misconduct or dereliction of duty by the

chairperson The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of a

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the ...

, when the rules allow it. It is usually combined with a motion to elect a new chair.

Explanation and use

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised ''Robert's Rules of Order'', often simply referred to as ''Robert's Rules'', is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for whic ...

'' allows this motion to be used if the offending occupant of the chair is not the regular presiding officer of a society, in which case it is a

question of privilege In parliamentary procedure, a motion to ask a question regarding the rights of the meeting is a privileged motion that permits a request related to the rights and privileges of the assembly or any of its members to be brought up. Explanation and ...

affecting the assembly. If the chair is the regular presiding officer, the motion to declare the chair vacant cannot be used. However, the assembly could temporarily remove the chair for the meeting using a

suspension of the rules In parliamentary procedure, a suspension of the rules allows a deliberative assembly to set aside its normal rules to do something that it could not do otherwise. However, there are rules that cannot be suspended. Explanation of use Rules are ess ...

. The bylaws of the organization would determine how to permanently remove the officer. '' Demeter's Manual'' states that the procedure is to either bring charges against him for neglect of duty as presiding officer or abolish his term of office by amending the bylaws with due

notice Notice is the legal concept describing a requirement that a party be aware of legal process affecting their rights, obligations or duties. There are several types of notice: public notice (or legal notice), actual notice, constructive notice Se ...

to all members; either of these methods requires a two-thirds vote. ''

Mason's Manual ''Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure'', commonly referred to as ''Mason's Manual'', is the official parliamentary authority of most state legislatures in the United States. This 700+ page book has been "Adopted as the authority on question ...

'' provides, "A presiding officer who has been elected by the house may be removed by the house upon a majority vote of all the members elected, and a new presiding officer pro tempore elected and qualified. When there is no fixed term of office, an officer holds office at the pleasure of the body, or until a successor is elected and qualified."

Examples

An attempt was made to depose

Joseph Gurney Cannon Joseph Gurney Cannon (May 7, 1836 – November 12, 1926) was an American politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and many consid ...

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U ...

in 1910, and another in 2015 for

John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...

using this motion. A similar motion was introduced in the Texas legislature to remove Tom Craddick.

References

{{Parliamentary Procedure Incidental motions