Second (parliamentary Procedure) - Parliamentary Authorities That Discourage Seconds

Parliamentary Authorities That Discourage Seconds

  • Ray Keesey states, "Motions need not be seconded. The requirement of a second is largely a waste of time. What member is so destitute of friends that he can't find one willing to second his motion? The traditional justification for requiring a second is that at least two members would support a motion to justify its consideration. ... There is nothing essentially wrong with the practice of seconding. It is simply unnecessary.
  • Tilson's Manual advises against the use of seconds, stating, "It would seem that nothing could be more nearly useless and unnecessary than for some identified voice from the midst of the assembly to boom out, 'I second it'."

Read more about this topic:  Second (parliamentary Procedure)

Famous quotes containing the words authorities, discourage and/or seconds:

    Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control.
    Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)

    Sickness disgusts us with death, and we wish to get well, which is a way of wishing to live. But weakness and suffering, with manifold bodily woes, soon discourage the invalid from trying to regain ground: he tires of those respites which are but snares, of that faltering strength, those ardors cut short, and that perpetual lying in wait for the next attack.
    Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987)

    Watching fifteen seconds of nasal passages unblocking sure beats watching thirty seconds.
    Barbara Lippert, U.S. advertising critic. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 8 (June 16, 1986)