What are the ancient landmarks of the order?

The ancient landmarks are the immemorial usages and fundamental principles of the Craft that define its fixed identity and cannot be altered or repealed by any Masonic authority 1. In Craft jurisprudence, any change that destroys a constituent element of that identity is treated as an illicit innovation, whereas customs outside these essentials may be amended over time 1.

Masonic scholars and Grand Lodges widely agree on this broad definition, yet no universal catalogue of landmarks has ever been agreed upon 1. Albert Pike observed that each writer creates a catalogue according to his own fancy, with no common agreement ever having been definitely settled 1. Proposed lists have varied from just one or two principles to dozens or even hundreds 1.

Among the most influential formulations in Craft Masonry is Doctor Albert G. Mackey's list of twenty-five landmarks, which was officially endorsed or adopted by many American Grand Lodges, though widely criticized by others 1. Mackey's list includes the right of visitation, the requirement that unknown visitors submit to strict examination before entering a lodge, territorial non-interference between lodges, submission to the jurisdiction of one's residence, the qualification that candidates must be freeborn men of mature age, a belief in God as the Grand Architect of the Universe, and the subsidiary doctrine of a resurrection to a future life 1.

Other authorities have argued for far shorter enumerations. W. J. Chetwode Crawley reduced the essential foundation to a triple dogma: the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the life to come 1. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in its 1918 regulations, set out a brief, non-exclusive list: monotheism as the sole dogma, belief in immortality, the Volume of the Sacred Law as indispensable lodge furniture, the legend of the Third Degree, secrecy, the symbolism of the operative art, and the qualification of a candidate as a freeborn male adult 1.

Jurisdictions have also differed on how these qualifications are framed. While Mackey and older rituals specified that an initiate must be "freeborn," the United Grand Lodge of England resolved in September 1847 to alter the requirement to a "free man," allowing those emancipated after birth to be admitted without contravening the ancient principles of the Craft 1.