1.7.20 Qualification for membership
No subordinate lodge shall admit to membership a brother made in any other lodge, or confer the first degree upon any person, except upon a clear ballot therefore at a regular communication, or when a brother applying for restoration to the same lodge from which he was demitted may be elected to membership by a two-thirds vote of the members present at a regular communication. No subordinate lodge shall permit a brother admitted to membership to qualify himself as such until he shall have presented a demit from the lodge of which he was a member or a certificate showing his good standing in the lodge of which he is a member, nor permit such a brother if a member of more than one lodge, to qualify himself as such until he shall have presented either a demit or a certificate showing his good standing in each lodge of which he was or is a member. Involuntary loss of membership in any lodge shall constitute loss of membership in all lodges.
Amended November 16, 1985.
See Decision Nos. 29, 33, 35, 83; Standing Order No. 44.
Related Decisions
No. 29. Resident With Foreign Degrees
Decision: A person who while absent in foreign country received the degrees, upon his return to this jurisdiction desire to visit a lodge. I decided that he could not be allowed to visit, and that the brethren must not hold Masonic intercourse with him. Afterwards he desired to affiliate with the lodge, and I authorized the Master, if he was satisfied that the person referred to was ignorant of our regulations, and innocent of any attempt to contravene them, to examine him, and if he was satisfied that he had been made in a regular lodge, and had the proper vouchers, to receive his application for membership in the usual way, and admit him upon a unanimous ballot, and the payment of the regular fee.
Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 15, 1882. (Freeman, GM)
General Regulations, Article II, Sec. 2.2.3.
General Regulations, Article II, Sec. 2.2.7.
No. 33. Affiliation Without Certificate Of Demit
Decision: A lodge can receive and act upon the petition of a brother for affiliation before he has applied for or obtained a demit from the lodge of which he is a member.
Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. November 20, 1882. (Vincent, GM)
No. 35. Applications Following Rejection
Decision: A Master Mason in good standing, whose application for membership has been rejected by a lodge, may at once make a new application to the same or to any other lodge.
Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. November 19, 1883. (Vincent, GM)
No. 83. Reinstatement For Plural Membership
Decision: In case of a brother holding plural membership in two or more subordinate lodges and being dropped from membership for non-payment of dues (NPD) I ruled that upon his request to be reinstated he need not become reinstated in more than one lodge provided he paid the dues owing at the time of being dropped, to the lodge or lodges which had dropped him for NPD.
Constitution, Article VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 18, 1973. (Kettleband, GM)
Amended November 16, 1996.
Related Standing Orders
No. 44. Forfeiture Of Accepted Petitions
Resolved: That if any petitioner for the degrees in Freemasonry who has received a clear ballot and against whom no lawful objection has been made, fails to present himself for initiation within six months of the date of the notification given him of his acceptance by the lodge, he shall forfeit all rights thereunder, and if he desires to take the degrees he must apply for them in the same manner as any other applicant, and the lodge must follow the course of procedure as provided by the Constitution.
Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.7.20. May 15, 1905.