The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 45 : Dissents, Protests and Objections

Paragraph 2 : Dissent Defined

45-2. A dissent is a declaration on the part of one or more members of a minority, expressing a different opinion from the majority in its action on any issue before the court, and may be accompanied with the reasons on which it is founded.

DIGEST: The current text of this paragraph dates to 1987 [M15GA, 15-25, Item 1, p. 94]. The text prior to that change had stood since PCUS 1879 and its draft versions. PCUSA 1858 differed only slightly.

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
1. PCA 1973, RoD, 19-1, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 154
2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, RoD, 19-1, Proposed text, p. 60
3. PCUS 1933, RoD, XIX-§293
4. PCUS 1925, RoD, XIX-§293
5. PCUS 1879, Rules of Discipline, XIV-1
6. PCUS 1869 draft, Canons of Discipline, XIV-1
7. PCUS 1867 draft, Canons of Discipline, XIV-1
A dissent is a declaration on the part of one or more members of a minority in a court, expressing a different opinion from that of the majority in a particular case. A dissent unaccompanied with reasons is always entered on the records of the court.

PCUSA 1858 draft, Revised Book of Discipline, IX-1
A dissent is a declaration on the part of one or more members of a minority, in a judicatory, expressing a different opinion from that of the majority in a particular case. A dissent, unaccompanied with reasons, is always entered on the records of the judicatory.


COMMENTARY:
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, pp. 256-257), on XIV-1:
CHAPTER XIV. OF DISSENTS AND PROTESTS.
The four paragraphs define, first, a dissent, and then a protest, direct what shall and may be done with a protest, and determine who may join in making them.
§272.--I. A dissent is a declaration on the part of one or more members of a minority in a court, expressing a different opinion from that of the majority in a particular case. A dissent unaccompanied with reasons is always entered on the records of the court.
A mere dissent simply records the negative vote, or the names of those who wish to be recorded as favoring the negative. And the court has no option but to let the records show this.