parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense ...

, a motion for division of a question is used to separate a

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...

into a set of motions.

History

The concept of a division of a question dates back to at least 1640, when the ''

Lex Parliamentaria ''Lex Parliamentaria; or, A treatise of the law and custom of the Parliaments of England'', was a pocket manual for members of the Parliament of England first published in 1690. It was originally attributed to George Petyt. However, an attribut ...

'' noted, "If a Question upon a Debate contains more Parts than one, and Members seem to be for one Part, and not for the other; it may be moved, that the same may be divided into two, or more Questions: as Dec. 2, 1640, the Debate about the Election of two Knights was divided into two Questions."

Explanation and use

A motion for division of a question is used to split a motion into separate motions which are debated and voted on separately. According to ''

Robert's Rules of Order ''Robert's Rules of Order'', often simply referred to as ''Robert's Rules'', is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert. "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which ...

Newly Revised'' (''RONR''), this motion is applicable when each of the different parts, although relating to a single subject, is capable of standing as a complete proposition without the others. The motion is made by saying, for instance, "I move to divide the resolution so as to consider separately...." A motion to divide the question is not required when a single motion seeks approval of a series of propositions or resolutions on ''different'' subjects. Any member may obtain separate discussion and voting on any of the unrelated propositions or resolutions by making a demand for separate consideration, at any time before the unified motion is put to a vote.

Examples

In the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 65 ...

, a formal motion is not required to divide the question; since 1888, the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

has held that a question consisting of two or more propositions, each of which is able to stand on its own, can be divided on the objection of any

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

. In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

, the division of a question is known as ''split voting'' and may be requested by a political group or at least 40 members, when "the text to be put to the vote contains two or more provisions or references to two or more points ... The members of parliament will consequently vote on each provision separately.

Related motions

'' Consideration by paragraph'', ''consider by parts'', or ''consider seriatim'' are names for a similar motion whereby a complex motion is broken up to be deliberated part by part. Each part is considered tentatively and

amended Amend as a verb means to change or modify something, as in: *Constitutional amendment, a change to the constitution of a nation or a state *Amend (motion), a motion to modify a pending main motion in parliamentary procedure Amend as a surname may ...

as necessary, then the whole motion is considered and voted on as a whole. This differs from the motion to ''divide a question'' which splits the motion into two or more independent motions that are taken up in sequence. Each new motion is deliberated and voted upon before taking up the next part. Division of the question is not to be confused with

division of the assembly In parliamentary procedure, a division of the assembly, division of the house, or simply division is a method of taking a vote that physically counts members voting. Historically, and often still today, members are literally divided into physic ...

, which is a call for a rising vote.

References

{{Parliamentary Procedure