SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX   January, 1931   No.1

THE PAST MASTER

by: Unknown

Fortunate the lodge which has many; poor that body of Masonry in 
which Past Masters have lost the interest with which they once 
presided in the East!
The honorable station of Past Master is usually honored by the 
brethren; generally it is considered as second in importance only to 
that of the presiding Master.  And he is a wise and good Master who 
sees to it that the brethren of his lodge understand that “Past 
Master” is no empty title, but carries with it certain rights and 
privileges, certain duties and responsibilities, all set forth in the 
general body of Masonic Law, although differing in some respects in 
different Jurisdictions; certain unwritten attributes which become 
more or less important according to the character and abilities of 
the individual Past Master.	
It has been well settled in this country, as it is in England, that a 
Past Master has no inherent, inviolable right of membership in the 
Grand Lodge, such as is possessed by the Master of a lodge.  But in 
many American Jurisdictions, by action of the Grand Lodge, Past 
Masters are members of the Grand Lodge (in Nevada, all Master Masons 
are members of the Grand Lodge, but only the three principal officers 
and one among all the Past Masters of a particular lodge are 
considered voting members of Grand Lodge).  In some Jurisdictions 
they are full voting members; in others they have but a fraction of a 
vote, all the Past Masters of a lodge having one vote between them on 
any Grand Lodge question to be decided by a vote by lodges.  Whether 
full voting members of Grand Lodge, or members with but a fraction of 
a votes, they are such by action of their own Grand Lodge, and not by 
inherent right.
Before the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in England in 1717, 
when General Assemblies of Masons were held, Past Masters were as 
much a part of that body as the members of the Craft.  But the Old 
Constitutions of the Mother Grand Lodge did not recognize Past 
Masters as members of the Grand Lodge.  Dermott’s “Ahiman Rezon” of 
1778, quoting Anderson’s edition of the “Old and New Regulations” 
says: “Past Masters of Warranted Lodges on record are allowed this 
privilege (membership in Grand Lodge) while they continue to be 
members of any regular lodge.”  But his previous edition of this same 
work does not contain this statement, and Preston refers to the Grand 
Lodge, at the laying of the corner stone of Covent Garden Theater, in 
London, by the Prince of Wales as Grand Master, in these words:  “The 
Grand Lodge was opened by Charles March, Esq., attended by the 
Masters and Wardens of all the regular lodges;” he does not mention 
Past Masters as a part of the Grand Lodge.
These Past Masters, or course, have long since gone the way of all 
flesh; Past Masters who are now members of Grand Lodges are made so 
by the action of those Grand Lodges, and not by any inherent right.  
But the very fact that a Past Master “May” receive such recognition 
at the hands of his Grand Lodge, which ordinarily would not be given 
to brethren not Past Masters (except Wardens), must be considered as 
one of the rights and privileges of a Past Master.
Past Masters are said by Mackey to possess the right to preside over 
their lodges, in the absence of the Master, and on the invitation of 
the Senior Warden, or in his absence, the Junior Warden.
According to the ancient laws of Masonry, which gives a Master very 
large powers, any Master Mason may be called to the Chair by a 
Master.  Here the question is as to who may be called to the Chair by 
a warden, who has congregated the lodge in the absence of the Master. 
The great Masonic jurist gives unqualified endorsement to the idea 
that then only a Warden, or Past Master with the consent of the 
presiding Warden can preside over a lodge, and counts this as among 
the rights of a Past Master.  However true this may be in this 
specific case, the practice and the law in many Jurisdictions gives 
to the Master the right to put any brother in the Chair for the time 
being, remaining, of course, responsible for the acts of his 
temporary appointee, and for the acts of his lodge during such 
incumbency.
It may be considered a moot question as to just when a Master becomes 
a Past Master.  He is installed as Master “until your successor be 
regularly elected and installed.”  From this point of view the Master 
is Master until his successor has been made Master by installation; 
in other words, the right to install his successor is inherent in the 
office of Master, and not Past Master.  Under the law of Masonry, 
however, for this purpose Masters and Past Masters are identical; the 
Master really becomes a Past Master when, after election he “passes 
the Chair” in an emergent Lodge of Past Masters, or when, as a 
virtual Past Master, made so in a Chapter, he is elected Master of 
his lodge.  In those few American Jurisdictions in which the elected 
Master is not required to receive the Past Master’s Degree, prior to 
installation, a Master does not become a Past Master until his 
successor is installed.
The right to install his successor is inherent; the privilege of 
delegating that duty to another is within the power of any Worshipful 
Master (Courtesy would indicate that the desires of the Senior Warden 
be considered for installing officer, as well as the date for the 
installation).  He should not delegate the installing power to any 
brother who has not himself been installed, in order that the 
succession of the Oriental Chair be unbroken, from regularly 
installed Master to Master-Elect, regularly to be installed.  
Therefore, in most Jurisdictions, the installation power which is the 
right of the Master, may be considered also a privilege of Past 
Masters.
A very important right of all Past Masters is that of being elected 
to the office of Master, without again serving as Warden.  Perhaps no 
regulation is more jealously guarded by Grand Lodges than this, which 
dates in print from 1722 (Old Charges), that no Mason may be elected, 
or installed as Master who has not been regularly elected, installed 
and served as Warden.  There are exceptions; when a new lodge is 
constituted, a brother who has not been regularly elected, installed 
and served as a Warden may be elected and installed as Master (In 
Nevada it is permissible for any Master Mason to be elected and 
installed as Worshipful Master); when no Wardens in a lodge will 
accept election to the East, a brother may be elected from the floor, 
provided a dispensation is secured from the Grand Master.  A Past 
Master may be elected Master of a lodge (whether the lodge over which 
he once presided or another is immaterial) without dispensation.


