The legislature may elect to reconvene on a certain date, to adjourn at the call of the chair of either house or both houses, or to adjourn sine die (without planning a day to reconvene). The issue of whether to conduct a session between mid-November and early January is usually decided by a vote of the legislators in office during the last session before the election. In fact, if many of their members will be new in the next legislative session, the idea of their defeated lawmakers voting on legislation may be criticized by the public-especially by those who voted for the incoming legislators. Legislatures do not have to conduct lame-duck sessions. Thus, from the day after election day in November until late December, retiring and defeated legislators have time to pass more legislation. Incoming legislators assume office that day, and outgoing legislators leave office that day. Constitution, the Senate and the House of Representatives must convene on January 3 each year. On the federal level, under the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. When a legislature assembles between election day and the day that new legislators assume office, the meeting is called a lame-duck session. The term lame duck can apply to any person with decision-making powers, but it is usually refers to presidents, governors, and state and federal legislators.
In the United States, when an elected official loses an election, that official is called a lame duck for the remainder of his or her stay in office. The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. It is significant that Jesus is never said to have restored the ἀνάπηροι, the badly mutilated-deprived of their limbs (see Maimed).An elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post. Probably these miscellaneous cases would include those suffering from chronic rheumatism and from infirmities having a nervous origin, many of which resulted in a withering of the limbs and of the bodily frame. John 5:3 gives a comprehensive list of such sick persons, including the feeble, the blind, the lame, and the withered ( πλῆθος τῶν ἀσθενούντων, τυφλῶν, χωλῶν, ξηρῶν). Among the multitudes that gathered round Him seeking restoration for various ailments were probably sufferers from many different kinds of lameness (as Matthew 15:30, Luke 7:22). Healing of the lame was a characteristic work of Christ. In Matthew 18:8 we have χωλὸν ἢ κυλλόν-transposed in the authorities followed by Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885, making the correspondence between χείρ and κυλλέν, and τοὺς and χωλόν. κυλλός is, however, most commonly associated with the hand, while χωλός more specifically has to do with lameness in the foot or feet. In Mark 9:43-45 it is used synonymously with κυλλός, where ἀνάτηρος might have been expected in both cases, seeing that the injury referred to is the definite cutting off of the hand or foot.
The Greek word is χωλός, from obsolete χάω or χαλάω ( to loosen, slacken), which is translation ‘lame’ in Matthew 11:5 Matthew 15:30-31 Matthew 21:14, Luke 7:22 Luke 14:13 but in other passages for no apparent reason the same word is translated ‘halt’ In John 5:3 χωλῶν is rendered ‘halt.’ without any indication that a special species of lameness is intended, where the description is quite general as in the above passages. The term embraces all varieties of defect in walking arising from various causes, and includes halting and maimed (see artt.), which are separate and distinct species of lameness. It is applied metaphorically to all kinds of inefficiency, such as inadequate excuses, or verses which offend against the laws of versification. LAME.-This word, perhaps originally meaning bruised, signifies a crippled or disabled condition caused by injury to or defect of a limb or limbs specifically walking with difficulty, inefficient from injury or defect, unsound or impaired in strength.