[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 292-295]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 292]]

 

                          SEC. LI.--A SESSION.



Sec. 588. Sessions of Parliament.

  Parliament have  three 
modes of separation, to wit: by adjournment, by prorogation or 
dissolution by the King, or by the efflux of the term for which they 
were elected. Prorogation or dissolution constitutes there what is 
called a session; provided some act was passed. In this case all matters 
depending before them are discontinued, and at their next meeting are to 
be taken up de novo, if taken up at all. 1 Blackst., 186. Adjournment, 
which is by themselves, is no more than a continuance of the session 
from one day to another, of for a fortnight, a month, &c., ad libitum. 
All matters depending remain in statu quo, and when they meet again, be 
the term ever so distant, are resumed, without any fresh commencement, 
at the point at which they were left. 1 Lev., 165; Lex. Parl., c. 2; 1 
Ro. Rep., 29; 4 Inst., 7, 27, 28; Hutt., 61; 1 Mod., 252; Ruffh. Jac., 
L. Dict. Parliament; 1 Blackst., 186. Their whole session is considered 
in law but as one day, and has relation to the first day thereof. Bro. 
Abr. Parliament, 86.



[[Page 293]]
constituting them commissioners for the particular purpose.



Sec. 589. Sitting of committees in recesses, 
and creation of commissions to sit after Congress adjourns.

  Committees may be  appointed 
to sit during a recess by adjournment, but not by prorogation. 5 Grey, 
374; 9 Grey, 350; 1 Chandler, 50. Neither House can continue any portion 
of itself in any parliamentary function beyond the end of the session 
without the consent of the other two branches. When done, it is by a 
bill 



  The House of Representatives may empower a committee to sit during a 
recess which is within the constitutional term of the House (IV, 4541-
4543), but not thereafter (IV, 4545). Therefore committees are created 
commissions by law if their functions are to extend beyond the term of 
the Congress (IV, 4545). Under clause 2(m)(1)(A) of rule XI, all 
committees are authorized to sit and act anywhere within the United 
States whether the House is in session or has adjourned. By unanimous 
consent, all committees may be authorized to file investigative reports 
and annual activities reports following sine die adjournment (Oct. 17, 
1986, p. 33099).



[[Page 294]]



Sec. 590. Sessions and recesses of 
Congress.

  Congress separate  in two ways only, to wit, by adjournment, or dissolution by 
the efflux of their time. What, then, constitutes a session with them? A 
dissolution certainly closes one session, and the meeting of the new 
Congress begins another. The Constitution authorizes the President, ``on 
extraordinary occasions to convene both Houses, or either of them.'' I. 
3. If convened by the President's proclamation, this must begin a new 
session, and of course determine the preceding one to have been a 
session. So if it meets under the clause of the Constitution which says, 
``the Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by 
law appoint a different day.'' I. 4. This must begin a new session; for 
even if the last adjournment was to this day the act of adjournment is 
merged in the higher authority of the Constitution, and the meeting will 
be under that, and not under their adjournment. So far we have fixed 
landmarks for determining sessions. * * *


  The twentieth amendment to the Constitution, clause 2, now provides 
that the Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, at noon on 
the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. 
Section 132 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, 60 Stat. 812, 
as amended by section 461 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, 
84 Stat. 1140, provides that except in time of war the two Houses shall 
adjourn sine die not later than the last day of July (Sundays excepted) 
unless otherwise provided by the Congress. (For form of resolution used 
to continue in session past July 31, see H. Con. Res. 648, 92d Cong., 
July 25, 1972, pp. 25145-46.) The same section contemplates an 
adjournment of Congress from the thirtieth day before to the second day 
following Labor Day in the first session of a Congress (each odd-
numbered year) in lieu of a sine die adjournment. See Sec. 947, infra. 
Congress is adjourned for more than three days by a concurrent 
resolution (IV, 4031, footnote), and such adjournments to a day certain, 
within the session, do not terminate the session (V, 6676, 6677). In one 
instance the two Houses by concurrent resolution provided for 
adjournment to a day certain with the provision that if there be no 
quorum present on that day the session should terminate (V, 6686). Prior 
to the adoption of the twentieth amendment it had become established 
practice that a meeting of Congress once within the year did not make 
uncertain the constitutional mandate to meet on the first Monday of 
December (I, 10, 11). And where a special session continued until the 
time prescribed by the Constitution for the annual meeting without an 
appreciable intervening time (V, 6690, 6692), a question arose as to 
whether there had actually been a recess of Congress (V, 6687, 6693), 
with the conclusion that a recess was a real and not an imaginary time 
(V, 6687).




Sec. 591. Manner of closing a session by action 
of the two Houses.

  * * * In other  cases it is declared by the joint vote authorizing 
the President of the Senate and the Speaker to close the session on a 
fixed day, which is usually in the following form: ``Resolved by the 
Senate and House of Representatives, that the President of the Senate 
and the Speaker of the House of Representatives be authorized to close 
the present session by adjourning their respective Houses on the ---- 
day of ----.''



[[Page 295]]
sine die on August 20, 1954, with consent of the House to adjournment 
sine die of the Senate at any time prior to December 25, 1954 (Aug. 20, 
1954, p. 15554). In the 93d Congress, the two Houses adopted concurrent 
resolutions adjourning their sessions sine die or until reconvened by 
the Joint House-Senate leadership (see H. Con. Res. 412, Dec. 22, 1973, 
p. 43327; H. Con Res. 697, Dec. 20, 1974, p. 41815). In the 97th 
Congress, 2d Session, a concurrent resolution provided for the 
adjournment sine die of the House on December 20 or December 21 pursuant 
to a motion made by the Majority Leader or his designee, and provided 
the consent of the House to the adjournment sine die of the Senate at 
any time prior to January 3, 1983 as determined by the Senate, and also 
provided the consent of the House for adjournments and recesses or the 
Senate for more than three days as determined by the Senate during such 
period (H. Con. Res. 438, Dec. 20, 1982, p. 32951). Under the current 
practice, first session sine die adjournment concurrent resolutions 
contain House-Senate leadership recall authority, while second session 
resolutions usually do not (for the unusual cases, see H. Con. Res. 697, 
93d Cong., Dec. 20, 1974, p. 41815; H. Con. Res. 399, 101st Cong., Oct. 
27, 1990, p. ----), and all such resolutions permit the motion to 
adjourn sine die only by the Majority Leaders or their designees (Dec. 
19, 1985, p. 38358; Oct. 17, 1986, p. 33096).

  In the modern practice the resolving clause of the concurrent 
resolution is in form different from that given by Jefferson. At the 
close of the first session of the 66th Congress, the two Houses 
adjourned sine die under authority granted each House by simple 
resolutions consenting to such adjournment sine die at any time prior to 
a specified date (Nov. 19, 1919, p. 8810). Pursuant to H. Con. Res. 266, 
83d Congress, the House adjourned 



Sec. 592. Parliamentary law as to business at the 
termination of a session.

  When it was  said above that all matters depending before 
Parliament were discontinued by the determination of the session, it was 
not meant for judiciary cases depending before the House of Lords, such 
as impeachments, appeals, and writs of error. These stand continued, of 
course, to the next session. Raym., 120, 381; Ruffh. Fac., L. D., 
Parliament.



  Impeachments stand, in like manner, continued before the Senate of the 
United States.






  In the House of Representatives rule XXVI and the practice thereunder 
show that the two Houses of Congress have departed from the law of 
Parliament.