Legislative Session - Common Procedure

Common Procedure

Historically, each session of a parliament would last less than one year, ceasing with a prorogation during which legislators could return to their constituencies. In more recent times, development in transportation technology has permitted these individuals to journey with greater ease and frequency from the legislative capital to their respective electoral districts (sometimes called ridings) for short periods, meaning that parliamentary sessions typically last for more than one year, though the length of sessions varies. Legislatures plan their business within a legislative calendar, which lays out how Bills will proceed before a session ceases, though related, but unofficial, affairs may be conducted by legislators outside a session or during a session on days in which parliament is not meeting.

While a parliament is prorogued, between two legislative sessions, the legislature is still constituted – i.e. no general election takes place and all Members of Parliament thus retain their seats. In many legislatures, prorogation causes all orders of the body – bills, motions, etc. – to be expunged. Prorogations should thus not be confused with recesses, adjournments, or holiday breaks from legislation, after which bills can resume exactly where they left off. In the United Kingdom, however, the practice of terminating all bills upon prorogation has slightly altered; Public Bills may be carried over from one legislative session to the next.

This break takes place so as to prevent the upper house from sitting during an election campaign and to purge all upper chamber business before the start of the next legislative session. It is not uncommon for a session of parliament to be put into recess during holidays and then resumed a few weeks later exactly where it left off. Governments today end sessions whenever it is most convenient, and often, a new session will begin on the same day that the previous session ended. In most cases, when parliament reconvenes for a new legislative session, the head of state, or a representative thereof, will address the legislature in an opening ceremony.

In both parliamentary and presidential systems, sessions are referred to by the name of the body and an ordinal number – for example, the 2nd Session of the 39th Canadian Parliament or the 1st Session of the 109th United States Congress.