Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

[<< - previous section] | [TOC] | [next section - >>]

Section 4. Boards.

1248 Officers on boards are to take their seats in the same order of rank or seniority as on courts-martial.

1249 The senior or presiding member is to preserve order, to decide upon matters relating to the routine of business, to decide upon a recess, and to adjourn the board from day to day, at and to such hours as, in his judgment, will be most convenient and proper for the transaction of the business before it. Should, however, an objection be made by another member of the board to an adjournment announced by the senior officer, a vote is to be taken with regard to it, and the decision of the majority is to govern.

1250 No board is to transact any other business than an adjournment unless at least two-thirds of the members be present.

1251 No member of a board, unless prevented by illness or some insuperable difficulty, ordered away by competent authority, or excused by the officer ordering it, is to fail in his attendance at the appointed times ; and in case of such failure, the senior officer present of the board is to inform the officer ordering it of the fact, and also of the reasons of the failure, if known to him, in order that the vacancy may be supplied if necessary.

1252 A member absent when the investigation of a matter or case was held is not to vote upon a decision with regard to it ; but, if necessary to arrive at a conclusion, a reinvestigation, with that member present, may take place, and thus he may bestow his vote.

1253 The junior member of a board is to be the recorder of its transactions, but the senior member is to draw the final reports, based upon the opinions of a majority, and these reports are to be signed by all the concurring members, and to have appended, over their signatures, the reasons of dissenting members.

1254 Members of aboard are not to leave the vicinity of the place at which they are assembled unless authorized by the officer ordering it, or his superior.

1255 As distinct rules are framed for the Naval Academy, the above are not to apply to the hoards held thereat, except when composed of officers not attached to it, or partly by such officers and partly by those who are attached to it.

[<< - previous section] | [TOC] | [next section - >>]