VWB Ned Daniels Deputy of the Grand Master in District 4 of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington for 1999-2000

Masonry: Written and Unwritten (September 2000)

A few months ago, as I was perusing the shelves of a local bookstore, I came across a book titled: Washington Masonic Code, 1913: Revised to June 15. 1921.  Needless to say, I immediately purchased it and began leafing through its yellowing pages for a glimpse of our Masonic history.

On its first pages is a piece titled "Introduction - Masonry: Written and Unwritten," by Horace W. Tyler, Grand Secretary.  I found the subject matter and explanations most intriguing and informative, given they were first written nearly a century ago.

"In the Introduction to his edition of the Masonic Code of Washington, adopted in 1897, our famous Masonic Scholar and Antiquary, Grand Master William H. Upton, says in part: "The laws which govern Freemasons are divisible in several ways; but the divisions most important to our present purposes are two: that into the Unwritten or Common Law and the Written Law; and that into the Unchangeable and the Changeable law.

"The description 'unwritten' does not imply that a law has not been reduced to writing, or may not be; but that it does not owe its authority to the fact of its enactment in writing.  The term - which is identical in meaning with the terms "Common Law" and "Immemorial Law" - is applied to all laws known to have existed among Masons prior to the year 1717.  It includes local as well as general laws, and changeable as well as unchangeable ones.

"Laws which can be shown to have originated - when by express enactment or through a new usage - subsequent to 1717 are called 'written laws.'   They are all local in their origin - though a few of them have been almost universally adopted - and changeable.

"Of our second division of Masonic laws, into the Unchangeable and the Changeable, it may suffice to say that there are certain laws of the Masonic institution which it is not in the power of any man or body of men to change.   These are called Landmarks, and they all existed prior to 1717.  Some, at least, of them owe their unchangeableness to the fact that without them Masonry would lose its identity - would become a different entity and case to exist as Masonry; just as iron without weight, air without oxygen, motion without change, could not be iron, air, motion.

"All Masonic laws except the Landmarks, whether unwritten or written, may be changed, either by evolution or by express  legislation Masonically had.

"The Landmarks bind all Masons and bodies of Masons. Of the residue - the changeable parts - of the Common Law, some portions have become obsolete by universal non-user; for example, the law relative to annual assemblies.  That part of the general Common Law - that is, of the whole Common Law except local and temporary customs - not universally obsolete is presumed to be in force in any particular locality, and binding upon particular Masons and bodies of Masons, until its abandonment by non-user, express repeal or the adoption of statute law inconsistent with it, is made to appear.  Ancient local customs - as for example, that every brother should choose a mark - are in force, as ancient customs, only in those localities where the particular custom has prevailed without abandonment from time immemorial.  Local customs which have arisen since 1717 have much the same force, and are governed by much the same rules as to their validity and authority, as statutory enactments.  And finally, written laws are binding upon the bodies which enact or accept them, and upon all Masons and Lodges of their obedience; but upon no one else.

"When Masonic laws conflict, they rank in point of authority as follows:
    1. The Landmarks;
    2. The Constitution of the Grand Lodge;
    3. The By-Laws and Regulations of the Grand Lodge;
    4. Lodge By-Laws;
    5. The changeable part of the unwritten law.

"Where two laws, both of which belong to the same one of those five classes, are irreconcilable, the one enacted last prevails."

Thanks to both the District Deputy of the Grand Master in District 4, and the Masonic Monitor which publishes his articles for allowing us to reprint them.  The Masonic Monitor is published monthly (except August) under approval of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington.  The Masonic Monitor can be contacted at: 6619 132nd Avenue NE, PMB 237, Kirkland, WA, 98033-8627, USA.  Phone: (425) 822-4605 - FAX: (425) 822-2535 - Email: masonicmonitor@earthlink.net.