[2] Demeter's Manual of Parliamentary Law and Procedure states that an appeal "protects the assembly against the arbitrary control of the meeting by its presiding officer.
[5] In stating the appeal, the presiding officer uses the form, "Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair..." rather than a biased form such as "Those in favor of sustaining the bylaws..." Appeals are debatable unless they relate to indecorum, the priority of business, or an undebatable question.
[6] RONR states that "when the chair rules on a question about which there cannot possibly be two reasonable opinions, an appeal would be dilatory and is not allowed.
Demeter explains:[7] ...should you waste the assembly's time or affront its intelligence by submitting such absurd appeals to the members to back up your rulings – that there are seven days in the week, or twelve months in the year, or the main motion can be debated, or any other law or rule, or any self-evident and incontestable facts?An assembly cannot contravene a bylaws provision by raising an appeal and voting to interpret the provision to mean something different than its clear meaning.
If such an appeal is moved, the chair should rule it out of order immediately, without opening it to debate or putting it to a vote.