Moore1860FundamentalLaws

DIGEST OF MASONIC LAW, 1860

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XIX, No. 7, May 1860, Page 219:

The action of Freemasons in their Grand or Subordinate Lodges, or in their individual character, is regulated and controlled :

• By Ancient Landmarks; or the unwritten law of Masonry ;
• By written Constitutions, and General Regulations; and
• By Usages, Customs, Rules, Edicts, and Resolutions, having the force of General Regulations.

• The Ancient Landmarks are those principles of Masonic government and polity, which are the only part of Masonic law or rule of government that may never be altered or disturbed, and such of them as are lawful to be written, are usually, bit not wholly, engrafted in the written Constitutions and General Regulations.
• Constitutions are those written compacts or laws adopted by Freemasons for 
the government of a Grand Lodge, and its subordinate Lodges, and their members; 
including General Regulations, constitutionally adopted, that are intended to be permanent in their character.
• General Regulations, Usages and Customs, Rules, Edicts and Resolutions, are those Masonic rules of action adopted by competent authority, for local or temporary purposes, admitting of change at convenience, and not embraced in Ancient Landmarks or Constitutions, and are frequently termed By-Laws. But when they so operate as to alter, modify, or otherwise affect the Constitutions, as defined above, they are also styled Constitutions.

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS

The following are enumerated as Fundamental Laws of the Fraternity, having, as such, been universally received and acknowledged by Masons:—

1. That belief in the Supreme Being, "the Great Architect of the Universe," who will punish vice and reward virtue, is an indispensable pre-requisite to admission to Masonry.
2. That the moral law which inculcates charity and probity, industry and sobriety, and obedience to law and civil government, is the law and guide of every Mason, and to which strict conformity is required.
3. That obedience to Masonic law and authority being voluntarily assumed, is of perpetual obligation, and can only be divested by the sanction of the Supreme government in Masonry.
4. That the rites and ceremonies (which include the unwritten language) of the true system of the Ancient York Rite, and which constitute a part of the body of Masonry, are immutable, and that it is not in the power of any man or body of men, to make innovations therein.
5. That contentions and law-suits between Brethren are contrary to the laws and regulations of Masonry.
6. That charity is the right of a Mason, his widow and orphans when poor and destitute, to demand, and the duty of his prosperous Brother to bestow.
7. That Masonic instruction is, like charity, a reciprocal right and duty of Masons.
8. That men made Masons must be at least twenty-one years of age, freeborn, of
 good report, hale and sound, not deformed or dismembered, and no woman, no eunuch.
9. That no one can be made a Mason except in a lawful Lodge duly convened 
acting under an unreclaimed Warrant or Dispensation, and at the place therein
 named.
10. That the Grand Master may make Masons at sight, in person and in a lawful Lodge, and may grant a dispensation to a Lodge for the same purpose; but in all other cases, a candidate must be proposed in open Lodge, at a stated meeting, and can only be accepted at a stated meeting following, by the scrutiny of a secret ballot, and an unanimous vote.
11. That the ballot for candidates or for membership is strictly and inviolably secret.
12. That a petition to be made a Mason, after being presented and referred, cannot be withdrawn, but must be acted upon, by report of Committee and ballot.
13. That initiation makes a man a Mason; but he must receive the Master Mason's degree, and sign the By-Laws, before be becomes a member of the Lodge.
14. That it is the duty of every Master Mason to be a contributing member of a Lodge.
15. That a Lodge under dispensation is but a temporary and inchoate body, and is not entitled to representation in the Grand Lodge, and those who work it do not forfeit their membership thereby in any other Lodge, while it so continues.
16. That the Master and Wardens of every warranted Lodge must be chosen annually by its members, and if installed, cannot resign their offices during the term for which they were elected; and are, of right and inalienably, representative in, and members of the Grand Lodge.
17. That no appeal to the Lodge can be taken from the decision of the Master, or the Warden occupying the chair in his absence.
18. That every Mason must be tried by his peers; and hence the Master cannot be tried by his Lodge.
19. That Masonic intercourse with a clandestine or expelled Mason is a breach of duty and an offence against Masonic law.
20. That a restoration to the privileges of Masonry by the Grand Lodge, does not restore to membership in a Subordinate Lodge.
21. That a Mason, who is not a member of any Lodge, is still subject to the disciplinary power of Masonry.
22. That a Grand Lodge has supreme and exclusive jurisdiction, within its territorial limits, over all matters of Ancient Craft Masonry.
23. That no appeal lies from the decision of a Grand Master in the chair, or his Deputy or Warden occupying the chair in his absence.
24. That the office of Grand Master is always elective, and should be filled annually by the Grand Lodge.
25. That a Grand Lodge, composed of its officers and of representatives, must meet at least once in each year to consult and act concerning the interests of the Fraternity in its jurisdiction.

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