§ Mr. John Fraserasked the Attorney-General if the Lord Chancellor will make it his policy to require a declaration of interest by judges and justices of the peace as to whether they are masons.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralNo. This would be a very dangerous infraction of personal privacy and personal freedom, and there is no evidence to justify the discrimination between freemasonry and other forms of voluntary association. In the case of justices of the peace, they are also free to join political associations and campaigning bodies so long as they remain within the law, behave in a manner not calculated or bring the magistracy into disrepute and disqualify themselves from sitting in cases in which it might reasonably be supposed that they were emotionally or personally involved.