Born at the end of the 19th century, Paul Mason worked for the California legislature and Governor Goodwin Knight. In 1935, he published Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure, which is commonly known as Mason's Manual. After Mr. Mason's death in 1985, Mason's Manual has continued to be updated under the auspices of Mason's Manual Commissions established by the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is now widely used by state legislature throughout the country. For example, Rule 31 of the joint rules of the California legislature provides: "All relations between the houses that are not covered by these
rules shall be governed by the latest edition of Mason’s Manual."
In the introduction, Mason sets forth the following 10 principles for group decision making:
With some slight modifications, the same principles are equally applicable to decisions making by corporate boards of directors.