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26-611: Acta Senatus , or Commentarii Senatus , were minutes of the discussions and decisions of the Roman Senate . Before the first consulship of Julius Caesar (59 BC), minutes of the proceedings of the Senate were written and occasionally published, but unofficially; Caesar first ordered them to be recorded and issued authoritatively in the Acta Diurna . The keeping of them was continued by Augustus , but their publication

52-404: A delaying tactic . The objector may have no disagreement with the proposal at issue, but chooses to object in order to force a time-consuming formal vote, which may include a period of debate as well. Many deliberative assemblies (e.g. city councils) use a procedure known as the "consent agenda". Matters believed to be noncontroversial are placed on the consent agenda, and they are all adopted by

78-430: A decision is made by roll-call vote , then all of the individual votes are recorded by name. If it is made by general consent without a formal vote, then this fact may be recorded. The minutes may end with a note of the time that the meeting was adjourned. Minutes are sometimes submitted by the person who is responsible for them (often the secretary) at a subsequent meeting for review. The traditional closing phrase

104-421: A formal vote. Sometimes unanimous consent can be assumed if the chair perceives that no one would raise an objection if they formally asked. For instance, if it is obvious that the members of an assembly are absorbed in listening to a speaker who has exceeded the time limits on debate, but is about to conclude, the chair may allow the speaker to continue without interruption. Objections are sometimes used as

130-447: A motion in one vote. Any member can demand a separate vote on one or more of the independent resolutions. Unanimous consent can be obtained by the chair asking if there are any objections to doing something. For instance, the chair may state, "If there is no objection, the motion will be adopted. [pause] Since there is no objection, the motion is adopted." In Westminster parliaments, the wording could be "There being no objection, leave

156-438: A recorded vote or has requested quorum verification. For that reason, a claim that a piece of legislation was passed "unanimously", when it was really passed via "unanimous consent", can be misleading as to its level of support. Certain rights can only be waived by unanimous consent. For example, in disciplinary procedures , a single member can require the vote on the imposition of a penalty to be taken by ballot. When an item

182-438: A sample set of minutes. Generally, minutes begin with the name of the body holding the meeting (e.g., a board) and may also include the place, date, list of people present, and the time that the chair called the meeting to order. Since the primary function of minutes is to record the decisions made, all official decisions must be included. If a formal motion is proposed and seconded, then (regardless whether it passes) this

208-417: A single motion. If any member objects to one or more items on the consent agenda, the items objected to are removed from the consent agenda and handled in the ordinary course. Unanimous consent is frequently used to approve the minutes . If no one has corrections to the minutes, they are approved without a formal vote by unanimous consent. In this special case of unanimous consent, the only way to object to

234-410: A speaker or other business. The chair will state, "Without objection, five minute voting will continue." If no member objects, the motion is adopted. But if any member objects, the motion is not adopted and cannot be agreed to without a formal vote. Raising an objection does not necessarily imply that the objector disagrees with the proposal itself. They may simply believe that it would be better to take

260-400: Is "Respectfully submitted" (although this is no longer common), followed by the officer's signature, his or her typed (or printed) name, and his or her title. That closing phrase developed from "respectively submitted", expressing a claim that the order in which the various events are recorded in the minutes matches the order in which they occurred during the actual meeting. Usually, one of

286-427: Is before the assembly for action, such as a resolution, it is the right of every member to have it read once. Another case of this requirement is the reading of the minutes. Unanimous consent is required to not do the reading. Any member can request that the minutes be read and it would have to be done. A series of independent resolutions may be offered in a single motion. Unanimous consent is required to consider such

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312-583: Is granted." On the most routine matters, such as inserting an article into the Congressional Record in Congress , the chairperson may shorten this statement to four words: "Without objection, so ordered" or even to two words: "Without objection" ( Latin : nemine contradicente ). Another example of this practice in the House of Representatives is when a series of votes has been interrupted by

338-504: Is important for the minutes to be terse and only include a summary of the decisions. A verbatim report (transcript) is typically not useful. Unless the organization's rules require it, a summary of the discussions in a meeting is neither necessary nor appropriate. The minutes of certain groups, such as a corporate board of directors , must be kept on file and are important legal documents. Minutes from board meetings are kept separately from minutes of general membership meetings within

364-454: Is recorded. The voting tally may also be included. The part of the minutes dealing with a routine motion might note merely that a particular motion was "moved by Ann and passed". It is not strictly necessary to include the name of the person who seconds a motion. Where a tally is included, it is sufficient to record the number of people voting for and against a motion, but requests by participants to note their votes by name may be allowed. If

390-409: Is used to expedite business by eliminating the need for formal votes on routine questions in which the existence of a consensus is likely. The principle behind it is that procedural safeguards designed to protect a minority can be waived when there is no minority to protect. In non-legislative deliberative bodies operating under Robert's Rules of Order , unanimous consent is often used to expedite

416-620: The Latin phrase minuta scriptura (literally "small writing") meaning "rough notes". Minutes may be created during the meeting by a typist or court reporter , who may use shorthand notation and then prepare the minutes and issue them to the participants afterwards. Alternatively, the meeting can be audio recorded , video recorded , or a group's appointed or informally assigned secretary may take notes, with minutes prepared later. Many government agencies use minutes recording software to record and prepare all minutes in real-time . Minutes are

442-482: The approval of the minutes is to offer a correction to it. In an election, if there is only one candidate and the rules do not require a ballot vote in that situation, the single candidate is declared elected by acclamation, or unanimous consent. In this special case of unanimous consent, the only way to object to the election of a candidate is to nominate and vote for someone else. A meeting could be adjourned by unanimous consent. If no one has any further business at

468-439: The body would have voted in favor of the proposal. It may mean that members feeling that it would be useless to oppose a matter would simply acquiesce. For example, passing legislation via unanimous consent does not require that every member of a legislature, a majority of members or even a quorum of representatives to be present to vote. Unanimous consent merely requires that no representative of those present has asked to take

494-500: The case of the parliaments under the Westminster system , leave of the house (or leave of the senate ), is a situation in which no member present objects to a proposal. Generally, in a meeting of a deliberative assembly , business is conducted using a formal procedure of motion , debate , and vote. However, if there are no objections, action could be taken by unanimous consent. The procedure of asking for unanimous consent

520-448: The consideration of uncontroversial motions. It is sometimes used simply as a time-saving device, especially at the end of the session. Sometimes members do not want a formal recorded vote on the issue, or they know that they would lose such a vote and do not feel a need to take time on it. Action taken by unanimous consent does not necessarily mean that it was taken by a unanimous vote. It does not necessarily mean that every member of

546-435: The end of a meeting, the chair simply declares the meeting adjourned without a formal motion or a formal vote. In parliaments under the Westminster system , leave of the house or leave of the senate is a similar concept to requiring unanimous consent. If a member asks for leave to be granted to do something that is different from the rules, a single objection can defeat the request. Unanimous consent may be used as part of

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572-437: The first items in an order of business or an agenda for a meeting is the reading and approval of the minutes from the previous meeting. If the members of the group agree (usually by unanimous consent ) that the written minutes reflect what happened at the previous meeting, then they are approved, and the fact of their approval is recorded in the minutes of the current meeting. If there are significant errors or omissions, then

598-492: The minutes may be redrafted and submitted again at a later date. Minor changes may be made immediately using the normal amendment procedures, and the amended minutes may be approved "as amended". It is normally appropriate to send a draft copy of the minutes to all the members in advance of the meeting so that the meeting is not delayed by a reading of the draft. General consent In parliamentary procedure , unanimous consent , also known as general consent , or in

624-411: The official written record of the meetings of an organization or group. They are not transcripts of those proceedings. Using Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR), the minutes should contain mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the members. The organization may have its own rules regarding the content of the minutes. For most organizations or groups, it

650-437: The same organization. Also, minutes of executive sessions may be kept separately. Committees are not required to keep formal minutes although less formal notes may be taken. For committees, their formal records are the reports submitted to their parent body. The format of the minutes can vary depending on the standards established by an organization, although there are general guidelines. Robert's Rules of Order contains

676-406: Was forbidden. A young senator ( Latin : ab actis senatus ) was chosen to draw up these acta , which were kept in the imperial archives and public libraries. Special permission from the city prefect was necessary in order to examine them. This Ancient Rome –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Minutes The name "minutes" possibly derives from

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