[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress]
[112nd Congress]
[House Document 111-157]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 306-309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                           sec. li--a session


[[Page 307]]



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.





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 constituting them commissioners for 
the particular purpose.



  The House may empower a committee to sit during a recess that is 
within the constitutional term of the House (IV, 4541-4543), but not 
thereafter (IV, 4545). A commission created by law may operate beyond 
the term of the Congress in which it was created (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 adjournment sine die.



[[Page 308]]




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. * * *



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 



  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 an adjournment sine die. See Sec. 1106, 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). Before 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).



[[Page 309]]




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 __.''



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 



  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.