Withdrawal From Festival Stewardship.

long run ,, perhaps , no great amount of harm is done to the interests of our Institutions . What , however , we do most seriously exclaim against is not only the withdrawal by a Steward from his Stewardship , which , even to the very last moment , he

may be strictly entitled to do , but that he should likewise take upon himself to withdraw the list of subscriptions he has succeeded in compiling for the Institution . He may withdraw himself from the Stewardship , and cancel his own intended

donation , but we do not sec that lie is justiiie . d in cancelling the donations made and promised by others , and it may . be by the body he undertook to represent . These were not made or

promised to him personally , but to the Institution he thought of serving ; and yet there are several cases of this kind happening every now and then . In our opinion a Steward who does this exceeds his powers .

Masonic Jurisprudence.

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE .

II . —THE GRAND LODGE .

[ COMMUNICATED . ] We will now turn from the Grand Master to Grand Lodge , and discuss its prerogatives and privileges . It is not our province to discuss its history , and the only such reference that need be made , is that all historic rights and privileges have been

preserved , and at no time in history has that august body been more firmly consolidated than it is at this moment . Its decisions are not only unhesitatingly accepted by those under its jurisdiction , but are looked for with interest and quoted as good law , even bv those who preside over foreign jurisdictions .

We may premise that a considerable number of the functions of Grand Lodge are delegated to the Board of General Purposes , a body to which we shall allude hereafter . Grand Lodge is most interesting to the ordinary Freemason ,

as being the dual court oi appeal . It is within the right of any brother " who feels aggrieved by the decision of a Provincial or District Grand Master , a District Grand Lodge or of any Board or Committee " ( Article 217 ) , to appeal or argue his cause in person before Grand Lodge .

The absence of any specific mention of Provincial Grand Lodge from the Article quoted may strike the reader , but the truth is that a Provincial Grand Lodge has few , if any , executive powers , against the misuse of which then ? is ever likely to be any occasion to appeal , whereas a District Grand Lodge can

both erase lodges and expel brethren ( Article 106 ) . When it is considered how easy it is to appeal it is surprising that there should be so few . Absolutely no cost is entailed , and the procedure ( Article 217 ) is simplicity itself . The fact speaks volumes for the tact and wisdom of the subordinate rulers , and

for the loyalty and good feeling of the rank and file . The great majority of dissatisfied brethren appear to be content when they have received an " opinion , " one way or another , from some brother of eminence in their own lodge or within their own immediate Masonic circle , livery brother who reads these lines will at once be able to recall tbe old Past Master to

whom he instinctively turns when needing Masonic advice . Most ol the members of the lodge have , possibly , not read the Book of Constitutions , whereas the P . M . in question has , and thus acquires a reputation as the Solon of the lodge . Again , the Grand Secretary and the Grand Registrar

between them are unofficially consulted in many cases that would otherwise engage the attention of Grand Lodge , and are always glad to elucidate some knotty point of Masonic law or give advice upon disputed points cf discipline . The opinions

thus given are not , ol course , law in the same sense that an actual decision of Grand Lodge is , but he would be an extremel y litigious and sanguine brother who tried to get behind an opinion of the two officers named .

Too much praise cannot be given to them for the patient care and attention they bestow on the very voluminous correspondence which generally accompanies an appeal . Grand Lodge appreciates it , as may be gathered from the fact that the Grand

Registrar ' s exposition and summary of the facts and his statement of the law are , almost in every case , acted upon . In the rare case of Grand Lodge choosing its own path in opposition to the Grand Registrar , it has usually been in the direction oi allowing mercy to prevail over justice .

We will consider Grand Lodge first of all as to its constitution , and then as regards its legislative and executive powers . Article 4 claims for Grand Lodge a tolerably extensive prerogalive , but it must be remembered lliat Grand Lodge is ( lie author of Article 4 , and , moreover , il concludes with Ihe significant expression " always taking care that theanlieiil Landmarks

Masonic Jurisprudence.

be preserved . " Reduced to plain English , this saving clause might be paraphrased thus , " always taking care that the prerogative of the Grand Master be not infringed . " As we have pointed out in a previous article , no one knows

exactly where the prerogative in question begins and where it ends . An analogy exists in our monarchical constitution where legislation may take the form of an act of Crown , Lords , and Commons—or may be by Royal Warrant or by virtue of an order in Council .

Happily , the necessity for exact definition does not exist . As already pointed out , there are many executive functions conceded to the prerogative , aiml its exercise in these matters is admitted without question , and discussion or anything further may be left till occasion arises .

Grand Lodge consists of nominees of the Grand Master and and an elective element , or rather a representative one . The latter is by far the stronger . There are approximately 2000 lodges on the register—excluding those erased—and these send up 6000 delegates , Adding the Past Masters , say an average of

three to each lodge , we find the non-official element comprises 12 , 000 members , whereas at the close of last year there were living only 5 S 2 officers , past and present , of Grand Lodge , or a proportion say of 5 per cent . Modest as this proportion of the nominated members , Grand

Lodge views with jealous care any proposal to add to it by the creation of new offices , witness its attitude towards the proposal some fewyearsago to create a "Grand Chancellor" as the principal legal adviser . ( Jrand Lodge , however , does not control appointments to past rank . Article 7 deals with appointments to both

present and past rank , and it reserves to itself the right to make such " by vote duly confirmed , " in addition to the right possessed by the Grand Master . The right to degrade any officer is expressly reserved to Grand Lodge by Article 24 , which entrusts the initiative to the Grand Master , but the actual decision to

Grand Lodge . Instances of degradation are of the rarest possible occurrence , the latest one which occurs to the writer ' s recollection being the case of Bro . Sir Robert Stout , a New Zealand brother , who received past rank in 18 S 7 . He was concerned in the establishment in the Colony of a lodge working

under the Grand Orient of France . The fact that that body was out of the pale of Masonic recognition came up in the course of argument on the subject , but an act of invasion does not necessarily depend upon the character of the invaded . That the Grand Orient was concerned was , however , quite sufficient

for the majority of those who voted on the subject , and Bro . Slout was accordingly deposed . His defence was ingenious . He contended that the Grand Orient being ( declared to be a non-Masonic body , had nothing more to do with the Grand Lodge of England than a lodge of Good Templars . It was ,

however , pointed out that the latter body had never engaged the attention of Grand Lodge , whereas the former had . It might have assisted the accused brother had he thought of it , to have

quoted a decision of Grand Lodge , dated June , 1 S 72 , of which the preamble ran : " That while this Grand Lodge recognises the private right of every brother to belong to any extraneous Masonic organisation he may choose ... "

The decision then went on to specify some of the extraneous Masonic organisations in the following terms : "The spurious Orders of Rome and Constantino , the schismatic body styling itself the Grand Mark Lodge of Eno-Iand . . ' . "

" Invasion " has always been a tender subject with Grand Lodge . Though not laid down anywhere , the principle has always been acted upon that invasions by the Grand Lodges of

Scotland and Ireland are to be regarded as different from invasions by other foreign Grand Lodges . In the terms under which recognition is accorded to the several Grand Lodges into which our Colonies have from time to time formed

themselves the limits of territorial jurisdiction have always been carefully laid down . Within the limits of the United Kingdom English , Scotch , and Irish lodges keep to their own ground , but in the Districts it would be hard to say whose property the

territory is , and so the three Constitutions named work harmoniously side by side . As a matter of courtesy , the last comer seeks permission from the Constitutions already in possession , which is , of course , never refused .

The jurisdiction of Grand Lodge extends over every lodge in tin ? world working under an English warrant , whether geographically situated in the midst of an alien jurisdiction or not , Special legislatioli has had to be provided of late years to deal

with the growing demand for autonomy . We shall later examine the procedure under which such questions may be legitimately discussed . But when it has been granted , the rights of those lodges which desire to retain their connection with the Grand Lodge of England arc always most jealously preserved . Thus