A recliner has a chair frame that provides support to a seat and back rest. The frame includes a recliner assembly that includes a bracket that is connected to the backrest enabling reclining movement of the backrest as the bracket moves through a correspondingly shaped bracket slot in a recliner base plate, and where the bracket rotates about an axis that approximates the position of the rotational axis of the hip of a seated user. The reclining chair can also be part of a modular system of components that enable one or more seating units to be in a spanned or ganged configuration.