United States Usage
Adjournment sine die - as in "The One Hundred Tenth Congress of the United States closed its second session today by adjourning sine die" - is an adjournment until the next session of Congress, there being two sessions to each numbered Congress - e.g., the 110th Congress met in 2007 (first session) and in 2008 (second session). The next numbered Congress would have a different membership: Some members would not be standing for election again, while others might not win reelection. Sine die adjournments in the Congress typically do not have a date certain, but rather are determined by the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate at a later time.
James Madison ended his long chronicle of the Philadelphia Convention with the following, "The Constitution being signed by all the members present except Mr. Randolph, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Gerry, who declined giving it the sanction of their names, the Convention dissolved itself by an adjournment sine die."
The final entry in the Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America reads: "The hour of 2 o'clock having arrived, / The Speaker announced that the House stood adjourned sine die." (7 J. Cong. C.S.A. 796, Mar. 18, 1865)
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