''Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure'', referred to as ''Mason's Manual'', is the official parliamentary authority of most state legislatures in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Manual covers motions, procedures, vote requirements, the

rules of order Parliamentary procedures are the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense ...

, principles, precedents, and legal basis behind parliamentary law used by legislatures. The author, Paul Mason (1898–1985), was a scholar who worked for the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

. He is best known for writing ''Constitutional History of California'' in 1951 and ''Manual of Legislative Procedure'' in 1935. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) was assigned copyright ownership by Mason prior to his death. The NCSL assigned the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS) the task of editing and maintaining the manual for future printings. In 1984, the ASLCS created the Mason's Manual Revision Commission consisting of ASLCS members. It is responsible for editing and revising the manual to keep pace with the modern challenges and developments in parliamentary procedures. The most recent edition is the 2020 edition.

References

External links

1979 Edition
–

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{{Parliamentary Procedure Parliamentary procedure Parliamentary authority