It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the capacity of a presiding officer.

According to tradition, Vice President of the United States John Adams used a gavel as a call to order in the first U.S. Senate in New York in 1789.

Since then, it has remained customary to tap the gavel against a lectern or desk to indicate the opening and closing of proceedings and, in the United States, to indicate that a judge's decision is final.

The sound of the gavel striking the auction block signals the acceptance of the highest bid and the sale of the item.

On the other hand, in the Commonwealth of Nations, including in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, gavels have never been used by judges, despite many American-influenced TV programs depicting them.

In 1954, the gavel that had been in use since at least 1834 (and possibly since 1789) broke when Vice President Richard Nixon used it during a heated debate on nuclear energy, despite the addition of silver plates to strengthen it two years prior.

Later that year, India's Vice President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan visited the Senate and presented a replica of the original gavel to Nixon.