Town Meeting:Parliamentary Motion Guide

The following table summarizes the various kinds of motions and the precedent each receives. The table has been modified for Lexington's practice from Town Meeting Time by Johnson, Trustman & Wadsworth, and published by the Massachusetts Moderators Association, 1984.

Rank	Table of Basic Points of Motions	Debatable	Amendable	May Reconsider	May Interrupt
	Privileged Motions
1	Dissolve or adjourn sine die	No	No	No	Yes
2	Adjourn to a fixed time or recess	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
3	Point of no quorum	No	No	No	Yes
4	Fix the time to (or at) which to adjourn	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
5	Questions of privilege	No	No	No	Yes
	Subsidiary Motions
6	Lay on the table	No	No	No	No
7	Move the previous question	No	No	No	No
8	Close debate at a specified time	Yes	Yes	No	No
9	Postpone to a time certain	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
10	Commit or refer	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
11	Amend (or substitute)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
12	Postpone indefinitely	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Incidental Motions
Note i	Point of Order	No	No	No	Yes
	Division of a question	Yes	Yes	No	No*
	Separate consideration	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Fix the method of recording the vote	No	Yes	Yes	No
	Withdraw or modify a motion	No	No	No	No
	Waive limitations of § 15, art. V, i.e. speak more than twice or longer than 10 minutes	No	No	No	No
	Main Motions
None	Main Motion	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Note ii	Reconsider or Rescind	Note ii	No	No	No
None	Take from the table	No	No	No	No
None	Advance an Article	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Note i: Same rank as the motion out of which they arise.

Note ii: Same rank and debatable to the same extent as the motion being reconsidered.

* If the Moderator deems it appropriate, or at the request of 25 members