Excerpt from Code of General Laws of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Annotated): Adopted by the Sovereign Grand Lodge, September 23, 1915, With an Appendix Containing the Constitution and Rules of Order of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, the Rebekah Degree Code, the Patriarchs Militant Code and the Old Constitution and Former by-Laws This work is the first attempt of The Sovereign Grand Lodge to reduce the general laws of the Order to statutory form. Heretofore these laws have appeared in the form of resolutions or decisions adopted from time to time by The Sovereign Grand Lodge, reported in the Journals and made accessible by means of digests. The decision or resolution constituted the original law. The digest was a mere reference by means of which the law could be found. In this work, however, the text, having been adopted by The Sovereign Grand Lodge by positive enactment, constitutes the law, and is final authority until repealed or amended by The Sovereign Grand Lodge. Those members of the Order who are not accustomed to the use of statutes should note carefully that this statement is made only of the section proper - that which appears in large type. The notes are not statutes at all, but are rulings of The Sovereign Grand Lodge interpreting or applying the statutes, for, though the statutes as such did not previously exist, the laws contained in them have in most instances long been the law of the Order. The figures interspersed through the notes or appearing at [the end refer to the Journal and the pages of the Journal in which the rulings may be found. In many instances only the Journal and page num ber are given. In these cases the citations support the text or some part of it, and to attempt a digest would merely repeat all or a portion of the section. The cross references need no explanation. The article on The Sovereign Grand Lodge should be consulted in connection with the Constitution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.