CHAPTER II.

pcasontc ^nnisiimtritts.
The object of all punishment, according to the jurists, is twofold : to vindicate the offended majesty of the law, and to prevent its future violation by others, through the impressive force of example. In reference to this latter view, it is reported of Lord Mansfield that on a certain occasion he said, "A man is not hung because he has committed a larceny, but he is hung that larcenies may not be committed." This is perhaps the most humane and philosophical principle on which the system of punishments can be founded. To punish merely as a satisfaction to the law, partakes too much of the nature of private retaliation or revenge, to be worthy of a statesmanlike policy.
But in the theory of Masonic punishments, an- othei element is to be added, which may readily be cci^ectured from what has already been said on the subject of crimes in the last chapter. Pun- ishment in Masonry is inflicted that the character of the institution may remain unsullied, and that the unpunished crimes of its members may not
MASONIC PUNISHMENTS. 515
injuriously reflect upon the reputation of the whole society.
The right, on the part of the Masonic Order, to inflict punishment on its members, is derived from the very nature of all societies. '"Inasmuch," says President Wayland * " as the formation of a society involves the idea of a moral obligation, each party is under moral obligation to fulfill its part of the contract. The society is bound to do what it has promised to every individual, and every individual is bound to do what he has promised to the society." It is this mutual obligation which makes a violation of a purely Masonic law a penal offence, and which gives to the Lodge the right of imposing the penalty. Protection of the good and punishment of the bad, are a part of the contract entered into by the Order, and each of its members.
But the nature of the punishment to be inflicted is restricted within certain limits by the peculiar character of the institution, which is averse to some forms of penalty, and by the laws of the land, which do not give to private corporations the right to im- pose certain species of punishment.
The infliction of fines or pecuniary penalties has, in modern times at least, been considered as con- trary to the genius of Masonry, because the sanc- tions of Masonic law are of a higher nature than any that could be furnished by a pecuniary penalty. The imposition of a fine for transgression of duty, would be a tacit acknowledgment of the inadequacy
* Elements of Moral Science, p. 335.
516 MASONIC CENSURE.
of those sanctions, and would hence detract from their solemnity and binding nature.*
Imprisonment and corporal punishment are equally adverse to the spirit of the institution, and are also prohibited by the laws of the land, which reserve the infliction of such penalties for their own tribunals.
Masonic punishments are therefore restricted to the expression of disapprobation, or the deprivation of Masonic rights, and may be considered under the following heads :
1. Censure ;
2. Reprimand ;
3. Exclusion ;
4. Suspension, Definite or Indefinite ;
5. Expulsion.
To each of these a distinct section must be allotted.