Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U. S. ARMY; LATE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ETHICS,
LAW, ETC., MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

;

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862. by

D. VAN NOSTRAND,

In the Clerk's Office of he District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

30.1862

Ree May 30.

C. A. ALVORD, ELECTROTYPER AND PRINTER.

PREFACE.

WITHIN the past few years, more has been done to fix disputed and doubtful points in the practice of our military tribunals, than during any former period in our military history. For this progressive movement, we are mainly indebted to the able decisions, while reviewing the proceedings of courts-martial, that have issued from the War Department since the establishment of the office of Judge Advocate of the Army; and to the many elaborate opinions by the Attorneys General, on points of law requiring legal interpretation. These decisions and opinions, presenting, as they do, authoritative information of unusual interest to the army at large and not generally accessible, first suggested the preparation of a work in which they might be embodied. The suggestion lost none of its force, in view of the fact, that for the instruction of the Cadets of the Military Academy in the practice of courts-martial, this most essential information was not to be found in their text-book.

This volume has been the result of much careful investigation, and the hope is entertained that it may contribute a useful link in the chain of our military jurisprudence. To the Judge Advocate of the Army, I am indebted, for furnishing me the information I had occasion to seek in the records of the War Department.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »