    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 108th Congress]
    [108th Congress]
    [House Document 107-284]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 306-309]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                               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 307]]

    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 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, and to
    issue subpoenas, whether the House is in session or has adjourned to a
    date certain or adjourned sine die, even after the second regular
    session of a Congress until the end of the constitutional term. Under
    clause 1(b)(4) of rule XI, all committees are authorized to file
    investigative reports and annual activities reports following sine die
    adjournment.

    [[Page 308]]

    So far we have fixed landmarks for determining sessions. * * *

    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.

      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, p. 25145.) 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. 1105, 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 309]]

      In the modern practice the resolving clause of the concurrent
    resolution is in form different from that given by Jefferson. For a
    history and chronology of adjournment resolutions, see Sec. 84, supra.

    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.

      For a discussion of continuance of impeachments, see Sec. 620, infra.