close debate
close debate. Parliamentary law. To pass a motion that ends debate and amendment of a pending question or series of questions. • The synonymous shorthand “previous question,” a somewhat archaic and misleading term that several parliamentary manuals still use for this motion, has evolved over time. Two centuries ago, the motion was invented for suppressing an undesirable debate: if the original form — “Shall the main question be put?” — passed in the negative, then the body immediately stopped considering the pending question. The motion’s form later became “that the main question shall now be put,” which if passed in the affirmative brought the pending question to an immediate vote, and if passed in the negative had no effect. — Also termed vote immediately. See CLOTURE. Cf. EXTEND DEBATE; LIMIT DEBATE.
