28 minimum days to pass a candidate

The 28-day or four-week requirement serves as a period of probation between degrees, allowing a candidate sufficient time to master the instruction of his present degree before advancing 2. In English and American practice, this interval traditionally spans four weeks and is paired with an open examination in the lodge to verify the candidate's proficiency 2.

The United Grand Lodge of England provides under Rule 172 of its Constitutions that degrees must be conferred at an interval of four weeks, though this may be reduced to an interval of not less than one week if authorized by dispensation.

This degree interval reflects a wider Masonic tradition of enforced delay, which also applies to initial admission 1. Under the fifth of the 1723 General Regulations, a lodge was required to receive one month's notice before initiating a candidate, ensuring an investigating committee had sufficient time to inquire into his character and qualifications before a ballot could be taken 1. Except where a Grand Master issued a dispensation for emergency cases, this probationary month could not be bypassed 1.