L. of Miss., 1857, p. 60. Authorities on this subject might easily be multi-

plied, as instances occur every year in which sentences are reversed without bein.; sent back for trial. In all these cases the Grand Lodges abandon Iheir appellate character and assume original jurisdiction.
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red back on account of the inadequacy of the pun- ishment, as "being too severe or too lenient, it will not be necessary to institute a new trial, but simply to review that part of the proceedings which relate to the sentence.
The question here suggests itself, whether on an appeal any new evidence which had not come before the Lodge can be introduced by either party. It is contrary to the spirit of the municipal law, in the trial of an appeal by a superior court, to permit the introduction of evidence that was not originally given to the court below,* because, as the question is whether they did right or not upon the evidence that appeared to them, " the law judged it the high- est absurdity to produce any subsequent proof upon such trial, and to condemn the prior jurisdiction for not believing evidence which they never knew."t But in Masonic appeals the principle is different. Here, as I have already observed, the Grand Lodge does not act, simply, as a court of appeals, but as the supreme Masonic authority, and may at any time assume original jurisdiction in the case. The Grand Lodge, at all times, when any of the great principles of Masonic polity are at issue — whether the hum- blest of its children may have received an injury, or one of its Lodges have abused its chartered privi- leges and inflicted an act of injustice — is not to be
* " It is a practice unknown to our law, (though constantly followed in the spiritual courts,) when a superior Courtis reviewing the sentenee of an infe- rior, to examine the justice of the former decree by evidence that was never produced below.''— Blackstoxe, Comment, b. hi. ch. 27.
t Jbirl b. ill. ch. 25.
246 EIGHT OF APPEAL.
governed by the technicalities of law, but by the great principles of justice. Like the Roman consuls in the hour of public danger, it is invested with a dictatorial power " to see that the republic receive no harm."*
Hence it is competent for the Grand Lodge to re- ceive any new evidence, or to inquire into any new matter, which will throw light upon the question at issue between the Lodge and the appellant. t But unless the case be one of aggravated wrong or very palpable error, which the new evidence brings to light, a due sense of courtesy, which is a Masonic virtue, will prevent the Grand Lodge from at once reversing the decision of the subordinate Lodge, but it will remand the case, with the new evidence, to the Lodge, for a new trial.
In conclusion, it must be remarked, that the de- termination of the position of the appellant, during the pendency of the appeal, is a question of law that is involved in much difficulty. Formerly I enter- tained the opinion that the appellant in this case remains in the position of a Mason " under charges."
* Ne quid republica detrimenti caperet. " In extraordinary cases, the Senate made an act that the consuls should take care that the common- wealth received no detriment ; by which words they gave absolute power to the consuls to raise armies and to do whatever they thought proper for the public interest." — Duncan's Cicero, p. 116. This is just the absolute- power possessed at all times by a Grand Lodge. It is to see that the Masonic com monwealth receives no detriment, and may override all technical laws, ex cept landmarks, to attain this object.
f The Grand Lodge of Ohio, in 1823, adopted this standing resolution, that, in the case of an appeal, " the Lodge, or the person charged, shall have the benefit of any additional testimony."— Proceed. G. L. of Ohio, 1823, p. 139
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But a more mature reflection on this subject, in- duced by a very general opposition of the fraterni- ty, has led me to review my decision. It is admit- ted as Masonic law, that until the opinion of the higher body is known, that of the lower must con- tinue in force. Thus, if the Master decides a point of order erroneously, the Lodge must obey it until it is reversed, on appeal, by the Grand Lodge. This doctrine is founded on the principle of obe- dience to authority, which lies at the very founda- tion of the Masonic organization. Hence, judging by analogy in the cases under consideration, I am compelled honestly to abandon my former views, and believe that the sentence of the Lodge goes into operation at once, and is to be enforced until the Grand Lodge shall think proper to reverse it. Still, the position of an expelled Mason who has appealed is not precisely the same as that of one who has submitted to the sentence of expulsion. The Grand Lodge of New York has very properly defined expulsion as implying " a termination not only of Masonic intercourse and connection with the bodj' inflicting it, but from the Masonic frater- nity, unless an appeal be made."* Now the last words qualify the definition, and show that expul- sion, when an appeal has been made, does not pre- cisely imply the same thing as expulsion when no appeal has been entered. Again : expulsion has b?en metaphorically described as Masonic death.
Const. G. I,, of New York, § 45.
218 EIGHT OF APPEAL.
sion under appeal is rather a state of Masonic trance than of death. The expelled person is, it is true, deprived of all exercise of his Masonic func- tions, and is incapable of any communion with his brethren, but the termination of the case is rendered uncertain by the existence of the appeal. It may end in a confirmation of the expulsion, or in his re- covery and restoration to Masonic rights. So that if a specific term is required to designate the condi- tion of one who has been suspended or expelled, during the pendency of his appeal from the sen- tence, it may be called a quasi suspension, or quasi expulsion. The individual is not really a suspended or expelled Mason until his appeal is dismissed and the sentence confirmed ; but in the meantime he is divested of all his Masonic rights, except that of appeal.
The right of appeal differs from the other rights which have been the subject of discussion, in this, that it is not confined to Master Masons, but is equally enjoyed by Fellow Crafts, and even Entered Apprentices. The humblest member of the frater- nity, when he supposes himself to be injured or unjustly treated by his superiors, is entitled to his redress, in an appeal to the Grand Lodge ; for, as has been already observed, it is the wisdom of the law that where there is a wrong, there must be a remedy
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