quorum, in parliamentary procedure, the number of members whose presence is required before a meeting can legally take action. The quorum refers to the number present, not to the number voting. The presiding officer, in determining the presence of a quorum, counts all members visible, whether voting or not. There is no requirement to announce the names of members so counted. A quorum is a majority unless the law, charter, constitution, bylaws, or articles creating the body fixes it at a different figure or proportion.
The term quorum came into use in the commission formerly issued to justices of the peace in England. In a day when legal scholarship on the local bench was the exception rather than the rule, it was necessary in commissioning the members of the court to add one or two or three jurists of sufficient learning and experience to discharge the technical duties of the tribunal. These became known as the quorum, without whom the court did not sit.
The presence of a quorum is required for the transaction of all business. In the absence of a quorum, pending business is suspended and no business, however highly privileged, may be transacted even by unanimous consent. The minutes of the previous meeting cannot be read or approved without a quorum, and the point of “no quorum” may be made at any time before the reading is completed. However, prayer by a chaplain of a legislative assembly does not require a quorum, and the chair declines to entertain a point of “no quorum” before prayer is offered.
A quorum is necessary even for debate. Any member may raise the question of “no quorum” and the chair is constrained to recognize for that purpose even though another member has the floor. The absence of a quorum invalidates proceedings in which the question of a quorum was raised, and pending business retains the exact status it occupied at that time. However, if proceedings have been completed, it is too late to make the point of order that a quorum was not present.
In the absence of a quorum the meeting must either adjourn or secure a quorum. The only motions admissible are those to fix the time at which to adjourn, to recess, or to further the effort to secure a quorum. The previous question may be ordered on a motion incidental to securing a quorum, and an appeal from the decision of the chair is in order in that connection. A quorum is not necessary in order to adjourn, but the point of “no quorum” is in order on a negative vote on adjournment. When a quorum is obviously present, the chair may decline to entertain a point of “no quorum” as dilatory.
As in the parent body, a majority of a standing committee is a quorum and is essential to the transaction of business. Boards of directors or trustees fall into this category. No report of a standing committee is valid unless authorized by a majority vote taken at a formal meeting of the committee with a quorum present, but it is too late to raise the question after the report has been received and taken up for consideration. Furthermore, a report adopted by a majority vote, with a quorum present, at a duly authorized meeting, is binding even though the number subsequently signing minority views outnumber those who voted for the report.
A session of a standing committee, having adjourned without securing a quorum, is dies non and may not be counted in determining the admissibility of a motion to reconsider. When the committee adjourns on a stated day of meeting for lack of a quorum, subsequent sessions on the same day, even when attended by a quorum, are not competent for the transaction of business.
A point of "no quorum" may be withdrawn at any time prior to ascertainment and pronouncement by the chair but not after absence of a quorum has been determined and announced. If it has been erroneously announced that a quorum has voted when the roll later discloses the absence of a quorum on the vote, the chair declares subsequent proceedings void.