CHAPTER 4

Subordinate Lodges

SEC. 4-1 MUST HOLD A CHARTER.

Every subordinate lodge in this jurisdiction must hold a charter from the Grand Lodge or a dispensation issued by authority of its law; and a chartered lodge shall not proceed to work until it shall have been regularly constituted and its officers installed. [2-1; 13-3.4; 13-3.7; 38-2; 38-3.1; 39-6.3; 39-12; 39-13; 58-1].

SEC. 4-2 SUBORDINATE LODGES POWERS.

Subordinate lodges, whether under dispensation or chartered, shall have such powers, and only such powers, as are conferred upon them by the Constitution, Regulations, laws, edicts, and decisions of the Grand Lodge. [2-4; 43-1.3; 43-2; Chapter 43].

SEC. 4-3 CONFER THE DEGREES.

Subordinate lodges, and not the Grand Lodge, shall confer the degrees. they are authorized to confer the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason only. The degrees shall be conferred only in the order named. [71-2; Chapter 71].

SEC. 4-4 RULES AND REGULATIONS.

The Grand Lodge shall prescribe rules and regulations for the organization and government of subordinate lodges. [5-1.1; 5-1.4].

SEC. 4-5 LODGE PRECEDENCE.

Lodges shall take precedence according to the dates of their respective charters.

SEC. 4-6 INCORPORATED SUBORDINATE LODGE.

No subordinate lodge of the Grand Lodge shall hereafter incorporate under the civil law unless its petitions for such incorporation, together with copies of the proposed charter and by-laws, is filed with the Grand Secretary and is first considered and reported on by the Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence, and is thereafter approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the members present at an annual communication of the Grand Lodge such incorporation of a subordinate lodge shall not in any manner affect, change, or modify its relation with the Grand Lodge. A subordinate lodge, although incorporated prior to the adoption of this CODE, is in all respects subject to the laws of the Grand Lodge notwithstanding its incorporation. [49-5; 43-8.1.D; 43-8.1.E; 60-10].

SEC. 4-7 MEMBERS HAVE NO PROPERTY INTEREST.

No member of a subordinate lodge shall have any property interest either in his membership in the lodge or in any property which the lodge has acquired or may acquire that can be enforced in law whether or not the lodge has been incorporated under the civil law prior to the adoption of this CODE. [52-7; Preamble III (2)].

SEC. 4-8 DEBTS.

The Grand Lodge is in no manner whatever responsible for the debts and obligations of its subordinate lodges, but it may provide that available assets of a subordinate lodge shall be applied to the payments of such debts and obligations. [49-8].