Ancient Charges and Regulations

23 May 24

What are the Ancient Charges and Regulations?

The ‘Old Charges’ are a number of parchment rolls or books dating between the 14th and 18th centuries, connected with the Operative Craft. They contain a history of the Craft of Masonry and a series of articles or points which were in essence a code governing moral conduct and regulating masonic trade practices.

The ‘Charges of a Freemason’ appeared in the first (Book of) Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England 1723 compiled by James Anderson. They were based on the Old Charges but he introduced several features of his own. ‘The Charges of a Freemason’ at the beginning of our Book of Constitutions are substantially as Anderson wrote them over 300 years ago.

‘The Summary of the Ancient Charges and Regulations’ to be read by the secretary to the Master-elect prior to his Installation into the Chair of a lodge first appeared in the 1827 Book of Constitutions of the United Grand Lodge of England and now appear in our Book of Constitutions. It is likely that Anderson’s Charges of a Master contained the substance of these ‘Ancient Charges and Regulations’ but the 1827 form was derived from William Preston’s ‘Illustrations of Masonry’.