Page:Roberts Rules of Order Revised 4th Edition (1915).djvu/127

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§ 31]
TO POSTPONE DEFINITELY
121

31. To Postpone to a Certain Time or Definitely[1] takes precedence of the motions to commit, to amend, and to postpone indefinitely, and yields to all privileged [14] and incidental [13] motions, and to the motions to lay on the table, for the previous question, and to limit or to extend the limits of debate. It allows of a limited debate which must not go into the merits of the main question any more than is necessary to enable the assembly to determine the propriety of the postponement. It may be amended as to the time, and also by making the postponed question a special order. The previous question and the motions limiting or extending the limits of debate may be applied to it. It cannot be laid on the table alone, but when it is pending the main question may be laid on the table which carries with it the motion to postpone. It cannot be committed or postponed indefinitely. It may be reconsidered. When it makes a question a special order it requires a two-thirds vote.

The time to which a question is postponed must fall within the session or the next session,[2] and, if it is desired to postpone it to a different time, which must not be beyond the next regular session, it is necessary first to

  1. In Congress the form of this motion is to postpone to a day certain, unless it is proposed to make the question a special order for a certain hour, when the hour is specified.
  2. In Congress a motion cannot be postponed to the next session, but it is customary in ordinary societies.