Parliamentary procedure is a way to conduct a meeting in an orderly manner. Parliamentary procedure, also known as rules of order, helps the presiding officer keep order during a meeting as well as guide participants in transacting business. The procedure is called parliamentary because it comes from the rules and customs of the British Parliament. By the end of the 1600's, the broad principles had become well established. As actual procedures developed, they became the basis for deciding later questions of parliamentary law. In 1876, Major Henry M. Robert, a United States Army Engineer, wrote what became the most popular book on parliamentary procedure, Robert's Rules of Order.