The Spring School Elections.

votes in hand ; and No . 16 ( Middlesex ) , with 1323 votes to help her at her last chance . Nos . 19 ( Constantinople ) , 22 ( East Lancashire and Cumberland and Westmorland ) , 23 ! ( East Lancashire ) , 25 ( North and East Yorkshire ) , 26 ( Monmouthshire ) , and

30 ( North Wales ) , are all new cases , whose claims have been considered and approved since the last election . Of the whole body of candidates 28 are fatherless , while three have lost both parents , and one has both living .

It remains for us to address our usual appeal in behalf of those children who have only this chance of being elected to the Governors and Subscribers whose votes and interest are not

already promised . Of these , unfortunately , there is a large number , there being five on the Boys' list at Nos . 1 , 2 , 13 , 15 , and 23 ; and six on the Girls' list at Nos . 1 , 3 , 6 , 7 , , and 16 .

With these 11 children it is a case of " now or never , and we sincerely hope that in everyone of the cases the results will be favourable . Others can wait a few months longer , but these , if they fail this time , will have their names struck off the lists .

Masonic Jurisprudence.

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE .

I . —THE GRAND MASTER . [ COMMUNICATED . ] When the Installing Master hands the Book of Constitutions to the newly-installed occupant of the chair of King Solomon , he generally presents it with the remark that no difficulty can possibly arise in connection with the administration of his lodge , which a reference to that Book will not solve .

This statement is highly complimentary to the Book of Constitutions ; but that volume is to the ordinary Freemason what an Act of Parliament or the Statute Book is to the ordinary public . It needs considerable amplification and explanation ,

and we trust the day may not be far distant when some Masonic jurist will find time and opportunity to bring out an annotated edition . In an humble wav the writer of these notes has collected a

certain amount of information as to the manner in which the Constitutions have been interpreted from time to time , and he trusts that , in the absence of anything from authoritative sources , they may furnish useful hints to brethren interested in Masonic law .

The 312 Articles of the Book of Constitutions are arranged under eig ht heads . These deal with the Grand Master , Grand Lodge , Provincial and District Grand Lodges , private lodges ,

the several Boards or Sub-Committees , the regalia , and the fees , and in order that no brother may experience difficulty in finding his way about , a remarkably well-arranged index brings a remarkable volume to a conclusion . We will commence our

discussion with an examination of the prerogatives and duties of the Grand Master . The prerogative has never been exactly defined , and in days gone by , the proceedings of Grand Lodge have seemed to indicate a desire on the part of its members to

know where it began and where it left off . I he landmarks assign him the power to preside at all meetings , to make Masons at sight , to grant dispensations for conferring Degrees at irregular intervals , and to warrant new lodges .

In addition to these four powers , which belong to him independently of the Constitutions , others have been conferred upon him by Grand Lodge . He may revise the agenda paper of every communication . He may not only appoint officers of Grand Lodge , a privilege which scarcely needed legislating

about , but he may confer Past rank . He has also , we should imagine , the prerogative of mercy . He may appoint representatives with Foreign Grand Lodges , and receive similarly

appointed representatives from horeign Grand Lodges . And he may—with certain limitations—delegate certain of these powers to Provincial and District Grand Masters . He also summons Grand Lodge , and can , of course , dismiss it .

Let us discuss these in the order given . His ritght to preside at all meetings is , of course , ob / ious , and needs little comment , as it is involved in his designation . The right to confer Degrees at irregular intervals and to make Masons at sight may be conveniently taken together .

The writer has met brethren whose idea of the latter prerogative was that the M . W . G . M . might confer the Degrees and communicate the secrets to whomsoever and wheresoever he pleased . It really means that in his discretion he may warrant a lodge of

emergency for the express purpose of conferring a Degree upon a particular person , which done , the lodge ceases to exist , tin ; purpose for which it was formed having been accomplished . This right is very sparingl y exercised , in fact , we cannot recollect

Masonic Jurisprudence.

any such occurrence having taken place under our present Grand Master . The Grand Master of ( Pennsylvania , we believe ) , keeps theprerogative alive , however , and exercises it once everyyearand reports the same to his Grand Lodge , and the occurrence never fails to provoke unfavourable comment from the American

Masonic Press . The ri ght to confer Degrees at irregular intervals is a particular form of this power , and it is delegated to District Grand Masters ( Article 115 ) by special permission , that

is , it is not necessarily included in the patent of appointment . In practice the dispensation is only given in the case of brethren , such for instance as are employed on board ship , who may be for months at a time outside the reach of any lodge .

Ihe power to warrant lodges is another of the Grand Master ' s prerogatives . With certain limitations this may be delegated to a District Grand Master ( Article 117 ) . It is , however , like the preceding , a special permission which can be revoked at pleasure , without interfering with the other provisions of the

District Grand Master ' s patent . Moreover , any warrant issued by the D . G . M ., is a "provisional " one and must be exchanged within a certain interval , for the regular warrant ( Article 118 ) .

The warrants which have been issued of late years have largely been for lodges of the " class " description . It is no part of our duty here to criticise this tendency , but merely to record it . The warrant itself will be discussed later .

These are the four inalienable prerogatives of the Grand Master which existed before Constitutions were ever thought of . We now come to the powers conferred on him'by Grand Lodge . Under Aiticle 65 he may strike out of the agenda paper of any communication , any proposition which appears to him to be

inconsistent with the landmarks . This , of course , presupposes a considerable amount of Masonic knowledge on the part of the Grand Master and those who advise him , and it is much to be desired that the Constitutions should say what the landmarks

are once for all . . As it is , Article 65 imposes a responsibility on the Grand Master , and brethren are left to themselves to consult Mackey and other sources , which , however excellent , are in no sense authoritative .

Next the Grand Master is the fountain of honour . He may not create offices certainly , or alter their precedence . The prerogative was once invoked with regard to this latter question , but our Grand Master when he saw that feeling was likely to be aroused , with his usual tact and wisdom , disassociated himself

from the zeal of his advisers and ordered the question to be dropped . The right to create new offices has not been asserted , and if it ever existed , it has by implication been waived , as when , not long ago , Grand Lodge was expressly asked to sanction such creation .

Grand Lodge , however , never interferes with the ri ght of appointment to office , the most democratic brother being quite content with the manner in which the Grand Master exercises

this power ; in fact of late years it has even been suggested that Grand Lodge should waive its right to appoint the ' solitary elected officer , except of course the G . M ., and give the nomination to the Grand Master .

He may not only appoint to " current" office , but may , at his own discretion , confer Past rank . This is a power the Constitutions ( Article 8 7 ) do not allow him to delegate , and on

the few occasions when Provincial and District Grand Masters have been empowered to confer Past rank within their respective jurisdictions it has been as the result of special legislation , Article 87 being for the time suspended .

He has the prerogative of mercy . Article 211 allows him to reinstate " illegally excluded brethren , " and , moreover , leaves him to judge whether or not there has been an illegality . Nothing is said about the reinstatement of expelled brethren ,

We should imagine , although we have no recollection of the event having occurred , that no one would dispute the Grand Master ' s right to pardon such , and reinstate them if he seemed to consider circumstances justified such a step .

The Grand Master appoints ambassadors—that is to say representatives—of the Grand Lodge of England with other sovereign Masonic bodies . Such representatives generall y have Grand rank conferred upon them as a compliment to the body to whom they are accredited . The appointment involves , of

course , a recognition of the body concerned , as one possessing equal rights within its own jurisdiction as those claimed b y our own Grand Lodge . Although the grant of recognition , or the withholding or withdrawal of it , are matters in which the sense of Grand Lodge is taken , they are within the prerogative of the

Grand Master , and—as in the recent , case of the Grand Lodge of Peru—he has exercised it . The reception of a representative from another Grand Lodge involves , of course , the same inference , and in order to give the representative concerned precedence in this Grand Lodge corresponding with that he enjoys ia his own , rank -is usually conferred upon him . The Grand