A lodge has the right of suspending or excluding a member from his membership in the lodge; but it has no power to expel him from the rights and privileges of Masonry, except with the consent of the Grand Lodge.  A subordinate lodge tries its delinquent member, and, if guilty, declares him expelled; but the sentence is of no force until the Grand Lodge, under whose jurisdiction it is working, has confirmed it.  And it is optional with the Grand Lodge to do so, or, as is frequently done, to reverse the decision and reinstate the Brother.  Some of the lodges in this country claim the right to expel, independently of the action of the Grand Lodge; but the claim is not valid.  The very fact that an expulsion is a penalty, affecting the general relations of the punished party with the whole fraternity, proves that its exercise never could, with propriety, be intrusted to a body so circumscribed in its authority as a subordinate lodge.  Accordingly, the general practice of the fraternity is opposed to it; and therefore all expulsions are reported to the Grand Lodge, not merely as matters of information, but that they may be confirmed by that body.  The English Constitutions are explicit on this subject.  “In the Grand Lodge alone,” they declare, “resides the power of erasing lodges and expelling Brethren from the craft, a power which it ought not to delegate to any subordinate authority in England.”  They allow, however, a subordinate lodge to exclude a member from the lodge; in which case he is furnished with a certificate of the circumstances of his exclusion, and then may join any other lodge that will accept him, after being made acquainted with the fact of his exclusion, and its cause.  This usage has not been adopted in this country.

A lodge has a right to levy such annual contribution for membership as the majority of the Brethren see fit.  This is entirely a matter of contract, with which the Grand Lodge, or the craft in general, have nothing to do.  It is, indeed, a modern usage, unknown to the fraternity of former times, and was instituted for the convenience and support of the private lodges.

A lodge is entitled to select a name for itself, to be, however, approved by the Grand Lodge.[46] But the Grand Lodge alone has the power of designating the number by which the lodge shall be distinguished.  By its number alone is every lodge recognized in the register of the Grand Lodge, and according to their numbers is the precedence of the lodges regulated.

Finally, a lodge has certain rights in relation to its Warrant of Constitution.  This instrument having been granted by the Grand Lodge, can be revoked by no other authority.  The Grand Master, therefore, has no power, as he has in the case of a lodge under dispensation, to withdraw its Warrant, except temporarily, until the next meeting of the Grand Lodge.  Nor is it in the power of even the majority of the lodge, by any act of their own, to resign the Warrant.