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Article BROTHER J. LEE STEVENS. ← Page 19 of 23 →
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Brother J. Lee Stevens.
" until the Grand Lodge has finally delivered its decision upon the appeal ; " indeed , if this were not the case , the parties would be effectually deprived " of their appeal , which , in my opinion , would be directly at variance both " with the words and spirit of the Masonic laws . And although it appears " by section 9 , that when the Board has investigated and decided upon any " case , its decision shall be recorded , and then acted upon , it is quite clear to " me , that this can only apply to those cases in which no appeal has been " made , otherwise the effect of it would be , completely to nullify that clause " of the Masonic laws which gives the parties an appeal to the Grand " Lodge . " New Court , Temple . " AV . S . CROSS . "
" I am of opinion , that the appeal in this case must necessarily have the " effect of suspending the execution of the sentence which has been pro" nounced , until the determination of the case by the body in whom the " ultimate authority is vested . Many circumstances may be suggested , and " do , in fact , occur in our Courts of equity , in cases where the question " turns on the right to the possession of property , in which an appeal to a " higher Court does not prevent effect being immediately given to the
" decree of the Court below ; but all the cases in which the Court has " refused to stay execution of its decree pending appeal , proceed upon the " principle that , assuming the judgment appealed against to be right , the " delay in acting upon it would inflict a wrong upon the party in whose " favour it has been given ; and if the decree should be found to be errone' . ' ous , it would be in the power of the Court to replace the appellant sub" stantially in the situation from which the execution of the decree had " removed him . But this principle is wholly inapplicable to the
adminis" tvation of a penal law , to which class the sentence belongs . To inflict a " penalty under a decision against which the party has a right of appealing , " during the prosecution of that appeal , is manifestly an incongruity which " cannot be supposed to exist in any system of laiv . I am not aware of any " system of penal jurisprudence which does more , in such a case , than pro" vide that the offender shall be forthcoming , and amenable to its juris" diction when the ultimate decision shall be pronounced . To proceed " further than this would be obviously contrary to the first principles of " justice .
" The Book of Constitutions , ( as stated in the foregoing case ) , gives the " Board cognizance of all complaints and irregularities ; and it mentions " five different penalties as applicable to offences committed by Lodges and " individuals ; namely , erasure , expulsion , suspension , admonition , and fine . " The jurisdiction of the Board , so far as to giving sentence , is excluded " from cases where either of the first two penalties are proper ; and with " regard to the last three penalties , it is final only when there is no appeal . " The 9 th Section of the Book of Constitutions is plainly intended to point
" out what shall be the order of , or steps in , the proceedings of the Board in " cases which they consider proper for admonition , fine , or suspension . " First , the offence must be fully entered in the minutes . Second , the " proof of the fact must be declared . Third , the provision made for the " offence must be stated . Fourth , the decision must be recorded ; and " lastly , when all the proper steps have been taken , and not till then , it musl " be acted upon . There must be an offence , proof of it , cognizable by the " laws of tbe institutionand obviouslafinal decision . The effect of the
, y , " 9 th Section is to provide an additional protection to the accused , bj " securing regularity of proceeding ; and it cannot , in my opinion , be con . " strued so as to take away or render nugatory that appeal which is pre" viously given by the law . " Chancery Lane , " T HOMAS HARE . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brother J. Lee Stevens.
" until the Grand Lodge has finally delivered its decision upon the appeal ; " indeed , if this were not the case , the parties would be effectually deprived " of their appeal , which , in my opinion , would be directly at variance both " with the words and spirit of the Masonic laws . And although it appears " by section 9 , that when the Board has investigated and decided upon any " case , its decision shall be recorded , and then acted upon , it is quite clear to " me , that this can only apply to those cases in which no appeal has been " made , otherwise the effect of it would be , completely to nullify that clause " of the Masonic laws which gives the parties an appeal to the Grand " Lodge . " New Court , Temple . " AV . S . CROSS . "
" I am of opinion , that the appeal in this case must necessarily have the " effect of suspending the execution of the sentence which has been pro" nounced , until the determination of the case by the body in whom the " ultimate authority is vested . Many circumstances may be suggested , and " do , in fact , occur in our Courts of equity , in cases where the question " turns on the right to the possession of property , in which an appeal to a " higher Court does not prevent effect being immediately given to the
" decree of the Court below ; but all the cases in which the Court has " refused to stay execution of its decree pending appeal , proceed upon the " principle that , assuming the judgment appealed against to be right , the " delay in acting upon it would inflict a wrong upon the party in whose " favour it has been given ; and if the decree should be found to be errone' . ' ous , it would be in the power of the Court to replace the appellant sub" stantially in the situation from which the execution of the decree had " removed him . But this principle is wholly inapplicable to the
adminis" tvation of a penal law , to which class the sentence belongs . To inflict a " penalty under a decision against which the party has a right of appealing , " during the prosecution of that appeal , is manifestly an incongruity which " cannot be supposed to exist in any system of laiv . I am not aware of any " system of penal jurisprudence which does more , in such a case , than pro" vide that the offender shall be forthcoming , and amenable to its juris" diction when the ultimate decision shall be pronounced . To proceed " further than this would be obviously contrary to the first principles of " justice .
" The Book of Constitutions , ( as stated in the foregoing case ) , gives the " Board cognizance of all complaints and irregularities ; and it mentions " five different penalties as applicable to offences committed by Lodges and " individuals ; namely , erasure , expulsion , suspension , admonition , and fine . " The jurisdiction of the Board , so far as to giving sentence , is excluded " from cases where either of the first two penalties are proper ; and with " regard to the last three penalties , it is final only when there is no appeal . " The 9 th Section of the Book of Constitutions is plainly intended to point
" out what shall be the order of , or steps in , the proceedings of the Board in " cases which they consider proper for admonition , fine , or suspension . " First , the offence must be fully entered in the minutes . Second , the " proof of the fact must be declared . Third , the provision made for the " offence must be stated . Fourth , the decision must be recorded ; and " lastly , when all the proper steps have been taken , and not till then , it musl " be acted upon . There must be an offence , proof of it , cognizable by the " laws of tbe institutionand obviouslafinal decision . The effect of the
, y , " 9 th Section is to provide an additional protection to the accused , bj " securing regularity of proceeding ; and it cannot , in my opinion , be con . " strued so as to take away or render nugatory that appeal which is pre" viously given by the law . " Chancery Lane , " T HOMAS HARE . "