Extract from the Masonic Code of the United and Rectified Lodges of France

of the accomplices. c) Everything concerning the Scottish Masters is generally regulated. d) The Masters of the Loge Lodge alone have deliberative votes; such apprentices and companions have only consultative votes if the Venerable Master deems it good to ask for their opinions.

Chap. 7. Of Accusations, Punishments, & the Committee of Conciliation.

Chap. 8. Of the Venerable Master.

a) The Venerable Master is the head and organ of the Lodge, whose assemblies he convenes and presides over; he governs them jointly with those officers, who are eligible every year. b) He is chosen every 3 years from among 3 Scottish Masters presented by the Scottish Lodge. This election is concluded in the month of Saint John by a plurality of votes, in the presence of the Deputy Master, and is immediately communicated to the Scottish Grand Lodge. The installation of the new Master shall be performed by the Deputy Master. The predecessor shall become, by right, the Deputy Ex-Master. c) The Venerable Master must see to the maintenance of the laws of the Order and its other arrangements. d) In deliberations, the Venerable Master may vote first or last as he wishes. He enjoys a casting vote in the event of equal suffrages.

Chap. 9. Of the Wardens and other officers of the Lodge, where their duty, which is known, is treated.

Chap. 10. Of Masonic Degrees.

a) The Rectified Masonry recognizes only four degrees: Apprentice, Companion, Master, and Scottish Master. All others, by whatever name they may be called, are forbidden as contrary to the true goal of Masonry. b) The first 3 are conferred by the Venerable Master of the Lodge in accordance with the manuals given to him by the Scottish Directory. The degree of Scottish Master is reserved for the Deputy Master if he is present; but if he desires, it may be conferred by the Venerable Master. c) The intervals between degrees are fixed: 1, at 5 months of regular attendance at the work of the 1st or 2nd degree; 2, at 7 months of presence for that of Master; 3, at one year of presence for that of the degree of Scottish Master. However, all of this may be reduced by the Scottish Committee. d) The difference in aprons. It is forbidden to take degrees outside of one's Lodge without the permission of the Venerable Master and the Scottish Committee. e) The apprentices and companions must be in concert during work, and must keep the internal guard of the Lodge. The 4th degree, or Scottish Master, is exclusively attached to the rectified regime. Never is a visiting brother admitted to the deliberations of this degree. g) Degrees named as superior in other regimes may be communicated to the Scottish Masters. The distinctive marks of the Scottish Masters are: 1, a white skin apron cut in a long square, as is the flap, lined with green taffeta; the flap is bordered in fire-color red. 2, a green cordon, black-grained, 2 and a half inches wide with a border of three lines in fire-color on the outer edge only, with a small fringe also of fire-color; likewise the jewel of

the degree in gilded copper, which shall be suspended on the chest by the cordon passed around the neck as a sash, to which it will be attached by a small fire-colored ribbon. This jewel is a flaming star with 6 points forming a double triangle with the letter H in the middle between the compass and the square on a fire-colored background. This star will be surrounded by a circle surmounted by a crown. h) Serving brothers must be admitted only to the first and second degree, provided that he be a man who is entirely free; his reception is nothing other than an assurance, and includes the obligation that he will be made to swear and the admission to a reception in this degree.

Chap. 11. Of Scrutinies and the manner of holding them.

a) There are four different manners: 1, by white and black balls used for all proposals of reception, aggregation, or affiliation; 2, by written, initialed ballots in all elections; 3, the simple verbal affirmative and negative. One uses this to know the final votes regarding a proposal made by the Venerable Master; if by acclamation, it is rarely used as it is the most vicious. For elections and deliberations, b) it is the plurality that decides. But for proposals of a candidate to be received, or of a Mason to be aggregated, it requires a unanimous, or at least general, consent. It must be essentially unanimous for all cases of dispensation. c) In cases of reception or aggregation, when there is opposition by scrutiny, the Venerable Master or the proposer may request a written and motivated scrutiny, if it can be done without danger. One or two secret oppositions cannot annul the effect of the scrutiny, but they necessitate a second or even a third, for which the Venerable Master fixes the interval. If they are confessed, they suspend the admission until the motives, confessed to the Lodge or privately to the Venerable Master, have been judged by a plurality of votes. In the interval fixed for holding the new scrutiny, the opponent or the two opponents are obliged to confide their motives to the Venerable Master or at least to 2 Scottish Masters of their own choice; and if, at the last, the number of opponents has not increased, the proposed will be admitted. But if there are only 3 oppositions, even if unmotivated, he will be definitively rejected for a time, or forever, according to the case. This method offers a way to multiply oppositions when the motives are valid without compromising oneself, and preserves for everyone their liberty without exposing them to the inconveniences one might complain of elsewhere. The scrutiny may in no case be held on the same day as the proposal; but one may from then on fix