Quorum is the term given to the minimum number of people necessary for a session or deliberation to be valid.
The word came up in a British court called "Justices of the quorum", where members acted in solidarity to make a decision valid, and for that to happen, at least one of them should be present.
Etymologically, this term originated from the Latin Thu (“that”), which can be translated to “from whom” or “from whom”.
This term should only be used in reference to polling meetings or assemblies, and not when talking about a number of spectators or listeners, for example.
Example: "At today's meeting there was no quorum to decide the vote to elect the new president”.
There is also the qualified quorum, which is any quorum that is greater than a simple majority, that is, quorums with an absolute majority.
The quorum is divided between simple majority, which is when most individuals have to be present in order to win the majority of votes, and absolute majority, which is when the number of votes cannot be exceeded.
In the Portuguese language spoken in Portugal, the word quorum is written with an acute accent in the letter “o”: quorum.