Definition
A call of the house is a formal procedure in a legislative body by which the clerk reads aloud the names of all members on the roll to identify who is absent. The procedure is initiated by a resolution requiring members to attend the current session. Once absentees are identified, the body may compel their attendance — typically by directing the sergeant-at-arms to locate and physically bring absent members to the chamber — or may impose penalties for unexcused absence. The call of the house is a coercive attendance mechanism, not merely a head count; its purpose is to assemble the quorum necessary for the body to conduct business.
Why It Matters in Research
This is a narrow parliamentary and legislative procedure term. Researchers are most likely to encounter it in three contexts: historical legislative journals and records (where the phrase appears as a formal entry triggering specific procedural consequences), parliamentary procedure manuals and treatises of the nineteenth century, and constitutional or statutory provisions governing legislative quorums.
The key research trap is conflating a call of the house with a simple roll call or quorum call. A roll call is taken routinely to record votes; a quorum call merely verifies that enough members are present to proceed. A call of the house is the escalated measure — it presupposes a quorum problem and activates enforcement mechanisms. Historical sources sometimes use these phrases loosely or interchangeably, so context in the surrounding legislative record matters.
Because this procedure is grounded in legislative self-governance, it appears most frequently in internal rules of legislative bodies, not in statutes or judicial opinions. Researchers searching case law will find sparse results; the richer corpus is in legislative manuals, state constitutional provisions on quorum, and parliamentary authorities such as Cushing's Law and Practice of Legislative Assemblies and Jefferson's Manual.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Rapalje & Lawrence are in close agreement on both definition and mechanics. Both identify the sequence: a resolution first compels attendance, then the clerk calls names to identify absentees, and enforcement follows. Rapalje & Lawrence adds that non-attendance may be "punished" as well as compelled — a distinction worth noting, as it signals that the call of the house was not purely prospective (bring the member in) but could also generate retrospective sanctions.
Rapalje & Lawrence cites 15 East 458, an early English court report, suggesting the procedure has roots in English parliamentary practice, though the term was well established in American legislative usage by the nineteenth century. Neither source defines the precise enforcement mechanisms available, which varied by chamber rules and era. Neither source addresses the relationship between the call of the house and constitutional quorum requirements, a gap researchers in constitutional legislative history will need to fill from primary sources.
The placement of the entry in Rapalje & Lawrence — immediately followed by the unrelated fragment "CALLED A LURCHER DOG" — is a bibliographic artifact reflecting the dictionary's alphabetical arrangement, not a substantive connection.
Jurisdictional Note
The procedure exists in both houses of the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures, but the specific rules governing enforcement, penalties, and the threshold that triggers a call vary by chamber and by era. Researchers working with a specific legislative body should consult that body's standing rules or historical manuals rather than assuming uniform practice.