How to Adopt

Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised is the guide preferred by most professional parliamentarians for being fair and complete, and is in use by societies across the world. Behind Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised there is over a century of experience with meetings, so its guidelines anticipate nearly every question that will arise.

Standard Method

To adopt Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised as your organization’s parliamentary authority, the society should insert the following into its bylaws at the appropriate place

Article #
Parliamentary Authority
The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Society in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws and any special rules of order the Society may adopt.
RONR (12th ed.) 2:15, 56:49,56:66

Special Circumstances

Convention

At a convention of an organization whose bylaws do not designate a parliamentary authority, a rule doing so may be adopted together with other specific rules as in the example below. For adoption, such a rule requires a two-thirds vote

“Rule #: The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the convention in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the bylaws of the Society and these standing rules.”
RONR (12th ed.) 59:35(1), 59:47

Adoption by Same Vote as Special Rules of Order

An organization which has bylaws that do not designate a parliamentary authority should amend its bylaws as described above under “most common method.” However, amending bylaws may be a difficult process that takes considerable time. In some cases it may be desirable to adopt a parliamentary authority more rapidly than the bylaws can be amended. This may be done (in an organization that already has bylaws in a meeting that is not part of a convention) by adopting a resolution such as that below either with previous notice by a two-thirds vote or, even without notice, by a vote of the majority of the entire membership.

Resolved, That the rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Society in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the bylaws of the Society and any special rules of order the Society may adopt.
RONR (12th ed.) 2:15, 2:22

Meeting of a Group That Does Not Yet Have Bylaws

At a meeting of an unorganized body (one with no bylaws; called in parliamentary parlance a “mass meeting”), a parliamentary authority may be adopted by majority vote through a motion such as the following

Resolved, That the rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Society in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the bylaws of the Society and any special rules of order the Society may adopt.
RONR (12th ed.) 2:15, 53:8

A few notes

More advice about writing and adopting bylaws for an organization, including a complete sample set of bylaws, can be found in RONR (section 56).

Based on the experience of many groups, it is recommended that an organization which adopts RONR as its parliamentary authority purchase a hardcover copy of the book to be held by its chairman and passed down to succeeding chairmen. In addition, other officers and committee chairmen will benefit from having their own copies of the book to refer to, and both they and other members should be encouraged to obtain and read Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief.