author
Luther Stearns Cushing
1803–1856
Best known for the parliamentary guide later called Cushing’s Manual, this Massachusetts jurist helped shape how deliberative bodies conduct business. His writing turned complicated legislative practice into something clearer and more usable for readers and officials alike.
1 Audiobook
Manual of Parliamentary Practice Rules of Proceeding and Debate in Deliberative Assemblies
by Luther Stearns Cushing
About the author
Born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1803, he studied law at Harvard and built a career that blended scholarship with public service. Early on he worked with The American Jurist and Law Magazine, then became clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where his close knowledge of legislative procedure deepened.
He is remembered above all for Rules of Proceeding and Debate in Deliberative Assemblies (1845), widely known as Cushing’s Manual. The book was one of the earliest important American guides to parliamentary procedure and became a lasting reference for meetings, legislatures, and other deliberative bodies.
Cushing also served as a judge of the Boston Court of Common Pleas and later as reporter of decisions for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He died in Boston on June 22, 1856, but his work continued to influence legal and civic practice long afterward.