Study
Degree, Office and Mandate
A degree records what has been taught, an office is a task held for a term, and a mandate sets its authority and limits.
A degree records what a member has received and learned. An office is a task that a member is elected or appointed to perform for a term. A mandate sets the authority and the limits attached to that task. The three are related, but they are not the same thing.
Confusing them leads to errors. A high degree does not by itself give authority in a lodge meeting; the chair’s authority comes from the office and its mandate, and it ends when the term ends. Keeping the three separate protects both the dignity of the degree and the discipline of the office.
Example: a brother who holds a high degree is asked to chair a committee for one year. In the chair he decides procedure within the mandate he was given. When the year ends he returns to ordinary membership without losing his degree or his standing as a brother.