31 Determining the Masonic Year

No. 31. Determining The Masonic Year

Decision: The Acting Master of a lodge decided that members assessed for dues on the 22nd of April, 1880, were a year in arrears on the 14th of April, 1881, on the ground that it was a "Masonic year." He also decided that a notice issued on the 14th of April, requiring the delinquent to appear for trial on the 9th of June, was two months' notice as required by the by-laws of the lodge, on the ground that it covered two regular communications, which was what was intended by the by-laws.

I decided both these questions in the negative, on the ground that we know no such thing as "Masonic" years or months. That a year in the by-laws meant what it said, and in the case under consideration extended from April 22nd, 1880, to April 22nd, 1881. Likewise, that the two months, referred to in the by-laws, must be taken to be two full months, and not the time from one regular communication to the next but one succeeding.

Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.27. May 15, 1882. (Freeman, GM)