Masonic landmarks are a set of principles that many Freemasons claim to be ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry. Issues of the "regularity" of a Freemasonic Lodge, Grand Lodge or Grand Orient are judged in the context of the landmarks. Because each Grand Lodge is self-governing, with no single body exercising authority over the whole of Freemasonry, the interpretations of these principles can and do vary, leading to controversies of recognition. Different Masonic jurisdictions have different landmarks.

Origins

According to Percy Jantz, the Masonic term landmark has biblical origins. He cites the Book of Proverbs 22:28: "Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set", referring to stone pillars set to mark boundaries of land. He further quotes a Jewish law: "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbors' landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance" to emphasize how these Landmarks designate inheritance. Albert Mackey Expands on the above historical significance of landmarks: "The universal language and the universal laws of masonry are landmarks, but not so are the local ceremonies, laws, and usages, which vary in different countries. To attempt to alter or remove these sacred landmarks...is one of the most heinous offences that a Mason can commit. Mark Tabbert believes that the actual rules and regulations laid down in the early masonic landmarks derive from the charges of medieval stonemasons.

History

According to the General Regulations published by the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1723 "Every Annual Grand Lodge has an inherent power and Authority to make new Regulations or to alter these, for the real benefits of this Ancient Fraternity; provided always that the old Land-Marks be carefully preserved." However, these landmarks were not defined in any manner. In 1844, George Oliver wrote that some jurisdictions restrict the definition of a Masonic landmark to be only the "signs, tokens and words" while others include the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising of a candidate. Some also include the ornaments, furniture, and jewels of a Lodge, or their characteristic symbols. In 1863, Oliver published the Freemason's Treasury in which he listed 40 landmarks. Mackey expanded on both of these lists and remarked that the safest method of defining the landmarks is "those ancient, and therefore universal, customs of the order, which either gradually grew into operation as rules of action, or, if at once enacted by any competent authority, were enacted at a period so remote, that no account of their origin is to be found in the records of history."

Mackey's 25 Landmarks

The first major attempt to define the landmarks of Freemasonry was in 1858, when Albert Mackey (1807–1881) defined 25 landmarks in total:

Pound's Seven Landmarks

In 1911, understanding Mackey's 25 points to be a summary of Masonic "common law", the legal scholar Roscoe Pound (1870–1964) distinguished seven of them as landmarks:

Modern Interpretations

In the last century, several American Grand Lodges attempted to enumerate the landmarks, ranging from West Virginia (7) and New Jersey (10) to Nevada (39) and Kentucky (54). In the 1950s the Commission on Information for Recognition of the Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America upheld three "ancient landmarks":

Quotations

"The first great duty, not only of every lodge, but of every Mason, is to see that the landmarks of the Order shall never be impaired."