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16 U. W. Ontario L. Rev. 197 (1977)
The Chair's Casting Vote: Some Inconsistencies and Problems

handle is hein.journals/uwolr16 and id is 201 raw text is: The Chair's Casting Vote:
Some Inconsistencies
and Problems
Margaret A. Banks*
Introduction
In the glossary to the current edition of Palgrave's The
Chairman's Handbook, the term casting vote is defined as
follows:
A second vote which, by virtue of the provisions of an Act of
Parliament or of the standing orders, articles of association, or
other regulations which govern the meeting, the chairman is en-
titled to give when the votes are equal. The term is sometimes in-
correctly applied to the deciding vote given when the votes are
equal by a chairman who, like the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons, in other circumstances, does not vote.'
This definition rather surprised me, for I had always thought
it correct to refer to the deciding vote of the Speaker of the
House of Commons, in both the United Kingdom and
Canada, as a casting vote. Not being convinced that the
Palgrave definition was correct, I decided to investigate the
matter.
Sir Reginald Palgrave was Clerk of the House of Commons
at Westminster from 1886 to 1900. His Chairman's Hand-
*Law Librarian and Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Western
Ontario.
Sir Reginald F.D. Palgrave, The Chairman's Handbook, revised by L.A. Abraham
(1968) at 96. The first edition of The Chairman's Handbook was published in 1877,
the twenty-fourth edition in 1933. A further edition, described as new and
revised appeared in 1937. Further revisions were made in 1964 and 1968.

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