Quorum - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition quorum

Definition :

Quorum (of whom), the number of members of an administrative or judicial body whose presence is necessary for the acts of the body to be valid; e.g., of a County Borough Licensing Committee, which consists of not less than seven members, the quorum is three members, (English) Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910, s. 3. The term is derived from the 'justices of the quorum.' See JUSTICES, and the General Index to Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Quorum.'

'Quorum' denotes the minimum number of members of any body of persons whose presence is necessary in order to enable that body to transact its business validly so that its acts may be lawful. It is generally left to committees themselves to fix the quorum for their meetings and if it is not fixed by the authority which constituted it then it is competent for the committee itself to fix the quorum as part of its power to devise its day-today procedure. Quorum does not apply to bodies doing judicial function. Quorum is fixed for meetings of committees and not for the sittings of courts, Punjab University v. Vijay Singh Lamba, AIR 1976 SC 1441 (1443): (1976) 3 SCC 344: (1976) Supp SCR 67. [Punjab University Calender (1973), Vol. II Chapter II, Regn. 3]

Quorum, denotes number of members of any body of persons whose presence at a meeting is requisite in order that business my be validly transacted and that its acts may be legal. Bye-law not describing specific number but stating that more than one half of number of members must be present, Committee Constitute quorum would be seven, K.S. Xavier v. Neeloor Service Cooperative Bank Ltd., (1987) 2 Ker LT 480.

It means the minimum number of members who must be present for a body to transact business or take a vote, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1263.