Editing Robert's Rules of Order (section)

{{short description|Book on parliamentary procedure by Henry Martyn Robert}}
{{redirect|In Brief|the online publication formerly known as ''In Brief''|Virginia Law Review Online{{!}}''Virginia Law Review Online''}}

[[File:Book cover - robert's rules of order orig 1876 edition.jpg|thumb|First edition, 1876]]
'''''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]] (1837–1923). "The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which it was designed [...] Where there is no law [...] there is the least of real liberty."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Robert's Rules of Order |last=Robert |first=Henry |year=1986 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=0-553-22598-7 |location= |pages=16}}</ref>  The term ''Robert's Rules of Order'' is also used more generically to refer to any of the more recent editions, by various editors and authors, based on any of Robert's original editions, and the term is used more generically in the [[United States]] to refer to parliamentary procedure.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bliss |first1=Edwin |title=The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure |date=1993 |publisher=McGraw-Hill, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-07-062522-0 |page=xx |edition=Third |quote = The term 'Robert's Rules of Order' is commonly used today as a synonym for parliamentary procedure.}}</ref> It was written primarily to help guide voluntary associations in their operations of governance.

Robert's manual was first published in 1876 as an adaptation of the rules and practice of the [[United States Congress]] to suit the needs of non-legislative societies. ''Robert's Rules'' is the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States.<ref name="Notes and Comments">{{Cite book|title = Notes and Comments on Robert's Rules|last1 = Slaughter|first1 = Jim|publisher = Southern Illinois University Press|year = 2012|isbn = 978-0-8093-3215-1|location = Carbondale and Edwardsville|page = 160|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5THFbCnDdbIC&pg=PA160|last2 = Ragsdale|first2 = Gaut|last3 = Ericson|first3 = Jon L.|edition = Fourth}}</ref> It governs the meetings of a diverse range of organizations—including church groups, county commissions, homeowners' associations, nonprofit associations, professional societies, school boards, trade unions, and college fraternities and sororities—that have adopted it as their [[parliamentary authority]].<ref name=":8" /> Robert published four editions of the manual before his death in 1923, the last being the thoroughly revised and expanded Fourth Edition published as '''''Robert's Rules of Order Revised''''' in May 1915.