    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 117th Congress]
    [117th Congress]
    [House Document 116-177]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 315-319]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                               sec. li--a session

    [[Page 316]]

    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. 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

    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.

    [[Page 317]]

      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) and clause 1(d)(3)
    of rule XI, all committees are authorized to file investigative reports
    and activities reports following adjournment sine die.

    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. * * *

    [[Page 318]]

    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).

      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

    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 __.''

      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.

    [[Page 319]]

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

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