1 BRIEF HISTORY OF

PARLIAMENTARY
PROCEDURE
Origin and Development

Parliamentary Law refers to the body of

generally accepted rules, precedents, and
practices commonly employed to regulate the
proceedings of deliberative assemblies.

 First systematized in the English

Parliament from which it takes its name.
 Journals of English Parliament indicate
that the main principles of parliamentary
procedure have been use since the
reign of King Edward VI

Rules of Parliamentary Procedure

 Form a part of the English common law
 Characteristically not based on any
established law but are merely
dependent upon decisions of the Chair,
reports of the parliamentary debates,
judicial rulings, and other precedents
entered in the journals of Parliament.
 The English have traditionally regarded
common laws as the safest rule of
human conduct.

Parliamentary Law in US emanates from four

sources:

 The Constitution of US
 The Rules adopted by each House of
Congress
 Decisions of the Chair on points of order
 Jefferson’s Manual
(a code of procedural rules prepared by
Thomas Jefferson)

Parliamentary Procedure in the Philippines

Have been adopted in the Philippines shortly

after the advent of American sovereignty.
 Based to some extent in the Constitution
 Mainly on the rules of Philippine Senate
 House of Representatives

In cases, where local rulers are silent or found

inadequate, the rules of the US Senate and the
House of Representatives, and Jefferson’s
Manual are used in a suppletory character.

Common Parliamentary Procedure

- Applied to the common practice of

conducting business in assemblies
which though not legislative, are
deliberative in character.

 Rules of Order by Henry M. Robert is a

standard authority among local
organizations.