Masonic offenses fall in two distinct classes; those which are committed against the

laws, customs, ancient usages of the Fraternity, and those which are in conflict with
the laws of the Nation, State, or community; usually (not always), these latter must
involve moral turpitudes to be classed as Masonic offenses. Thus, violation of a
parking regulation, while an offense against a local law, could hardly be held a
Masonic offense, whereas selling liquor, legal in many places, in many Grand
Jurisdictions is a Masonic offense.

Many offenses in the first class are the result of ignorance; a brother ill informed as to
his duties in the Lodge, as a Mason, and not educated as to Masonic law, may easily
commit a Masonic crime in all innocence. In a vast majority of such cases, admonition
and instruction have been found much more effective than the preferring of charges
and the holding of a Lodge trial. Thus, a newly made Mason, not yet instructed in all
that a Mason should and should not do in Lodge, might easily state openly how he had
voted upon an applicant for the degrees, or fail to answer a summons, or insist on
speaking in Lodge without recognition by the Master, with no taint of guilty intention.
Obviously, instruction will cure such ignorance and prevent a recurrence of the
offense, far more easily than preferring charges and holding a trial.

Some Masonic offenses of the first class cannot be overlooked or cured with an
admonition, especially those which are calculated to alter the opinion of the general
public towards Freemasonry. Thus, it is universally held that as Masonry is greater
than any man, the man must seek Masonry of his own free will and accord, and
without the solicitation of friends or the hope of gain. For any Mason to ask his friend
to join his Lodge is a Masonic offense. Because the practice, if continued, would
seedily put Freemasonry in the public mind in the same class as secular organizations
which proselyte, it is an offense justly regarded as grave.

Any violation of any obligation is obviously a grave offense and one which may, and
always should, subject the offender to Masonic discipline.

Jurisdictions differ widely as to what must and what must not necessarily become a
matter for Lodge action. "Every violation of law involving moral turpitude and any
conduct likely to bring the Fraternity into disrepute is a Masonic offense" is the
attitude of many Jurisdictions. Others are much more specific, and list a large number
of actions to be, or not to be, Masonic offenses. Thus, in Codes, of the several
Jurisdictions it may be discovered that:

"It is a Masonic offense for a brother to assist in stealing a Master

Mason's daughter to marry a profane person to whom the parents are
opposed."
 "Where a father was expelled from Masonry and died, and his sons, also
members of his Lodge, knowing of his expulsion, caused a monument to
be erected over his grave bearing Masonic emblems, this is a grave
offense and a subject for discipline."

"A Master Mason who purchased goods upon the promise to pay for
same next clay, which he failed to do, but subsequently gives the brother
from whom he purchased the goods a promissory note, which he
subsequently fails to pay, does not clear himself of unmasonic conduct
by giving of such note. The question in the ease is, did the brother really
intend, at the time of the purchase, to pay his brother the next day, or
was it his intention to deliberately swindle a brother Mason by a
fraudulent misrepresentation. If it was his intention never to pay for the
goods so purchased, and the statement was made designedly to deceive a
brother Mason, he should be expelled as common cheat and swindler."

"Disputing the correctness of a debt with a Mason, the transaction not

involving morals, is not unmasonic conduct. Masonry is not a collecting
agency. Nor a refusal to submit business differences to the Lodge's
decision before going to law. Nor suing a brother without notice. Nor
simply taking advantage of what the law allows, such as taking a
homestead to prevent a brother Mason's collecting his debt."

"A candidate's drunkenness being discovered during the conferring of a

degree, proceedings should be stopped, charges preferred, and the
candidate punished."

The following acts, among others, have been held to constitute unmasonic conduct,
punishable by reprimand suspension, or expulsion according to the nature of the
charge and the circumstances under which the offense was committee:

"Attacking the proceedings of a Lodge in a scurrilous communication through a

newspaper, and seeking thereby to cover Masonry with contempt and ridicule; denial
of Divine authenticity of the Bible; dishonest or fraudulent acts; disobeying the
summons of a Lodge, which, under ordinary circumstances, should not be punished
by expulsion; defamation of character, by sending scurrilous matter through the mail;
dues, non-payment of; drunkenness: embezzlement; false swearing; fighting;
fraudulent conduct in receiving a degree under an assumed name (an applicant using a
fictitious name within the knowledge of members of the Lodge who recommend his
application, was not guilty of fraudulent act); going under an assumed name may or
may not be an offense, according to the circumstances, cause, object and intention;
gambling; habitual drunkenness: holding Masonic communication knowingly with an
expelled Mason; homicide; intoxication while in attendance on Grand Lodge, indecent
exposure of the person in the presence of ladies and others; incest and adultery;
keeping or cohabiting with a lewd woman; Masonic symbols, improper use of;
obscene and vulgar language unbecoming a Mason and gentleman: obtaining money
from Masons and others under false pretense; profane swearing; refusing to abide by a
settlement of a pecuniary difficulty, made by the Lodge at the request of the parties;
seduction of a Mason's wife; seduction; sending a challenge to fight a duel to a
Mason; slander of a Mason; slander of a Mason's wife; striking a Mason in anger but
repelling, in self-defense, an assault by a Mason, is not an offense; refusing to be
installed in office in which he has not served; slander of a profane; street brawling and
fighting between Masons; to inform a candidate by whom he was blackballed: willful
abandonment of family."

"It is a violation and contrary to the rules of decorum and common decency, for a
brother to enter the Lodge room carrying a deadly weapon and should he do so he
shall be charged and tried for unmasonic conduct."

"Masonry should not be used for advertising purposes. Business cards bearing
Masonic emblems are prohibited, nor should such cards carry any parody or doggeral
tending to make light of any Masonic lecture or ceremony. A violation of this edict is
gross unmasonic conduct."

"Adultery or fornication with any one, although not related to a Mason, subjects the
offender to discipline, but when the woman in question is known by the offender to be
the wife, widow, mother, daughter, or sister of a Master Mason, there is the added
guilt of the breach of a Mason's obligation, and the want of chastity on her part does
not excuse the offender."

"When a Mason occupies an official position such as judge, prosecuting attorney,

juror, mayor, etc., he should perform his official duties without showing partiality to
any one, whether Mason or profane. If, for example, in the performance of such
official duty, a Mason issue a tax execution against a brother Mason, this constitutes
no Masonic offense."

Methods of handling Masonic offenses differ in practically all Jurisdictions. The older
method of trial in open Lodge has been abandoned; our jurisdiction is in favor of
some form of trial by Commission. The reason for the change must be sought in the
changed conditions of this day and age, contrasted with that in which Lodges were
few and small, distances great, travel difficult and slow. Trial Commissions are
elected by the Lodge, elected by Grand Lodge, appointed by the Grand Master for a
specified term, drawn for by lot in Lodge, appointed by Master of the Lodge,
appointed by the District Deputy Grand Master, selected by a Committee appointed
by Master. In some Jurisdictions the trial body is termed a Committee, not a
Commission, and is either appointed or elected: by Master, the Grand Master, the
Lodge or Grand Lodge.

In some Jurisdictions alternate methods are permitted; a brother against whom charges
have been preferred may be tried in open Lodge, or by a Commission, the
determination left either to the Lodge or the Master. It is noteworthy that in
Jurisdictions in which a choice is permitted, Lodges rapidly adopt the commission
form of trial, finding that the hard feelings schism in the Lodge, and disagreeable
features connected almost inevitably with a Lodge trial are to a large extent avoided
by leaving the matter to a Commission.

Masonic penalties are but four - expulsion, indefinite suspension, definite suspension,
reprimand. In a majority of Jurisdictions, an appeal lies from any decision, from any
penalty, to Grand Lodge, unless guilt and penalty have been assessed by Grand
Lodge, when no appeal can be had, there being no body superior to which to appeal.

Grand Masters in practically all Jurisdictions have the power to suspend a lodge
officer from his office, or "arrest his jewel". In fine, the Grand Master has the power
to suspend an individual brother from the time of the commission of an offense, until
charges have been preferred and trial held. This unusual power, in the few
Jurisdictions in which it is possessed, has worked to the benefit of the Fraternity.

Freemasonry is so much more an organization of laws which state "thou shalt" than
"thou shalt not" - is so much concerned with charity and toleration, and has so few
among her far flung membership who are not upright citizens, that Masonic trials (in
proportion to the number of Lodges and Masons) are comparatively rare. It is one of
the glories of Freemasonry that it wins obedience to its laws and customs, not because
of fear of penalty and deterrent sentences for guilt, but because of genuine love for,
and veneration of, its laws and customs.

So may it ever be, and so must it ever be, if Freemasonry is to continue as it has
always been, a great force for good in the communities in which the mason lives and
serves !