therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: War made Jesty to he Judicially taken notice of, and copies printed by transmitted &c. 1. IT shall be lawful for Her Majesty to make Articles of War for the better government of Her Majesty's army' which articles shall be judicially taken notice of by all judges and Articles of in all courts whatsoever; — and copies of the same, by Her Maprinted by the Queen's printer, shall, as soon as may be after the same shall have been made and established by Her Majesty, be transmitted by Her Majesty's Secretary the Queen's of State for the War Department to the judges of Her intere Majesty's superior courts at Westminster, Dublin, and to judges, Edinburgh respectively, and also to the governors of Her Majesty's dominions abroad :—PROVIDED that no person within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or within the British Isles, shall by such Articles of War be subject to suffer any punishment extending to life or limb, or to be kept in penal servitude, except for crimes which are by this Act expressly made liable to such punishments as aforesaid, or shall be subject, with reference to any crimes made punishable by this Act, to be punished in any manner which shall not accord with the provisions of this Act: - PROVIDED also, that nothing in this Act contained shall in any manner prejudice or affect any Articles of War or other matters made, enacted, or in force, or which may hereafter be made, enacted, or in force, under the authority of the Government of India, respecting officers or soldiers or followers in Her Majesty's Indian army, being natives of India; and on the trial of all offences committed by any such native officer or soldier or follower, reference shall be had to the Articles of War framed by the Government of India for such native officers, soldiers, or followers, and to the established usages of the service. 2. ALL the provisions of this Act shall apply to all persons who are or shall be commissioned or in pay as an officer, or who are If for any other purposes, the Articles would be ultra vires under this section. They can only bind the persons liable to the Mutiny Act. Vol. I. pp. 149-150. This is worthy of notice, that there is no such limitation upon the operation of Articles in other places, and in each of which the validity of the Articles would have to be tested by the Rules laid down by Chief Justice Cockburn. See Vol. II. pp. 175-176; Chap. II. par. 21; Chap. X. par. 1, ante. * Inserted in 1863. As to the authority on which these Articles stand, see Vol. I. pp. 181-187, and pp. 268-270, and Chap. II. par. 49. * Volunteers serving without pay, or persons not Officers or Soldiers, but Persons subject to this Act. or shall be listed or in pay as a non-commissioned officer or soldier, and to all warrant officers, and to all persons employed on the recruiting service receiving pay, and all pensioners receiving allowances in respect of such service, and to persons who are or shall be hired to be employed in the royal artillery, royal engineers, and to master gunners, and to conductors of stores, and to the corps of royal military surveyors and draftsmen, and to all officers and persons who are or shall be serving in the Control Department,' and to officers and soldiers serving in the army hospital corps, or the army service corps, and to persons in the War Department, who are or shall be serving with any part of Her Majesty's army at home or abroad, under the command of any commissioned officer, and (subject to and in accordance with the provisions of an Act passed in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter ninety-five,) to any out-pensioners of the Royal hospital, Chelsea, who may be called out on duty in aid of the civil 2 power, or for muster or inspection, or who having volunteered their services for that purpose shall be kept on duty in any fort, town, or garrison, and to all civil officers who are or shall be employed by or act under the Secretary of State for War at any of Her Majesty's establishments in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and the islands thereto belonging, or at foreign stations; [and all the provisions of this Act shall apply to all persons belonging to Her Majesty's Indian forces who are or shall be commissioned or in pay as officers, or who shall be listed or in pay as non-commissioned officers or soldiers, or who are or shall be serving or hired to be employed in the artillery or any of the trains of artillery, or as master gunners or gunners, or as conductors of stores, or who are or shall be serving in the department of engineers, or in the corps of sappers and miners, or pioneers, or as military surveyors or draftsmen, or in the ordnance or public works or commissariat departments, and to all storekeepers and other civil officers employed under the ordnance, and to all veterinary surgeons, medical storekeepers, apothecaries, hospital stewards, and others serving in the medical department of the said forces, and to all licensed sutlers, and all followers in or of any of the said forces:] PROVIDED that nothing in this Act receiving pay II. par. 24. 3 "as such," would be liable to the Act. Vol. I. pp. 178-179; Chap. 1 Chap. VII. par. 27. * No one should be called out as part of the Army to aid the Civil Power without being under the Mutiny Act. The theory that a Soldier comes out as a "Citizen" is wholly untenable, and would lead to serious misapprehension. Vol. II. p. 143, and App. J. post. 3 Added in 1863. contained shall extend to affect any security1 which has been or shall be given by any officers, or their sureties, for the due performance of their respective offices, but that all such securities shall be and remain in full force and effect. 2 this Act to Jersey, 3. THIS Act shall extend to the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man and the islands thereto Provisions of belonging, as to the provisions herein contained for en- extend to listing of recruits, whether minors or of full age, and Guernsey, &c. swearing and attesting such recruits, and for mustering and paying, and as to the provisions for the trial and punishment of officers and soldiers who shall be charged with mutiny and desertion, or any other of the offences which are by this Act declared to be punishable by the sentence of a court-martial and also as to the provisions which relate to the punishment of persons who shall conceal deserters, or shall knowingly buy, exchange, or otherwise receive any arms, medals for good conduct or for distinguished or other service, clothes, military furniture, or regimental necessaries from any soldier or deserter, or who shall cause the colour of any such clothes to be changed, or who shall aid in the escape of a prisoner from a military prison, or who shall introduce forbidden articles into such prison, or shall carry out any such articles, or who shall assault any officer of such prison, and also as to the provisions for exempting soldiers from being taken out of Her Majesty's service for not supporting or for leaving chargeable to any parish any wife or child or children, or on account of any breach of contract to serve or work for any employer, or on account of any debts under thirty pounds in the said islands. in Her Ma 4. ALL officers and soldiers of any troops mustered and in pay, which shall be raised and serving in any of Her Majesty's dominions abroad, or in places in possession of or occupied foreign troops by her Majesty's subjects under the command of any officer jesty's pay to having any commission immediately from Her Majesty, provisions of shall be subject to the provisions of this Act and of Her this Act. be subject to When Financial Civil Officers were turned into Military ones this proviso was needed. See 59 Geo. III. c. 9, s. 139, and Law Officers' and Mr. Harrison's opinions, Vol. I. p. 526. The Mutiny Act always applied to the Channel Islands so far as relates to mustering and paying the Army, but none of the other powers extended thereto. Nor did the Law Officers, in 1755, think it at all necessary that they should be made to extend to the Islands. Bk. 721, p. 112. * Foreign Troops have usually been raised under the special authority of Parliament, and governed by a Special Code. See the Special Articles of War for the Foreign Troops in 1804, and Note on Foreign Soldiers, Vol. II. p. 431. As to American or Colonial Troops, see Chap. II. ante. Majesty's Articles of War, in like manner as Her Majesty's other forces are; and if such officers and soldiers, having been made prisoners, be sent into Great Britain or Ireland, although not allowed to serve therein, all the provisions of this Act in regard to billeting soldiers shall apply to such officers and soldiers. or yeomanry or volunteer corps or reserve forces. 5. NOTHING in this Act contained shall be construed to extend Provision as to any militia forces or yeomanry or volunteer corps to the militia in Great Britain or Ireland, or to the reserve force provided for by "The Reserve Force Act, 1867," or to the reserve force provided for by "The Militia Reserve Act, 1867," excepting [only as herein-after enacted, or] where by any Act for regulating any of the said forces or corps the provisions contained in any Act for punishing mutiny and desertion are or shall be specifically made applicable to such forces or corps. ower to constitute courts-martial. 6. FOR the purpose of bringing offenders against this Act and against the Articles of War to justice, Her Majesty may from time to time, in like manner as has been heretofore used, grant commissions under the Royal Sign Manual 5 for the holding of courts-martial within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and may grant commissions or warrants under the said Royal Sign Manual to the chief governor or governors of Ireland, the commander of the forces, or the person or persons commanding in chief, or commanding for the time being, any body of troops belonging to Her Majesty's army, as well within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the British Isles, as in any of Her Majesty's garrisons and dominions or elsewhere beyond seas, for convening courts-martial, and for authorising any officer under their respective commands to convene courts-martial, as occasion This power was first taken during the American War for our Colonists who were captured. See 32 Geo. II. c. 5, s. 75. Foreign Soldiers could not be billeted. See Vol. I. p. 238. 2 Hitherto this has been a fundamental principle, but how long it may so remain, or be so regarded by Parliament, is difficult to say. It simply refers, for the measure of their liability to the Mutiny Act, to the Code under which each of these Forces is raised. Chap V. par. 7. 3 These important words were first inserted in 1872. Compare Mutiny Act, 1871. 4 By the Mutiny Act 1669 and later Acts, “the General” had this statutory power conferred on him. See Chap. IV. par. 20. The Warrants are always issued under the countersign of a Secretary of State. This power may be executed by the donee of it in one of two methods :1. By convening a Court-martial; or 2. By authorizing a Subordinate Officer under his command to convene such for the trial of those under such last-mentioned Officer. may require, for the trial of offences committed by any of the forces under the command of any such last-mentioned officer, whether the same shall have been committed before or after such officer shall have taken upon him such command PROVIDED that the officer so authorised be not below the degree of a field officer, except in detached situations beyond seas where a field officer is not in command, in which case a captain may be authorised to convene district or garrison courts-martial: Every officer so authorised to convene courts-martial may confirm the sentence of any court-martial convened by him according to the terms of his warrant.' may be tried. 7. ANY person subject to this Act who shall, in any part of Her Majesty's dominions or elsewhere, commit any of the Place where offences for which he may be liable to be tried by court- offenders martial by virtue of this Act or of the Articles of War, may be tried and punished for the same in any part of Her Majesty's dominions or in any other place 3 whereto he may have come or where he may be after the commission of the offence, as if the offence had been committed where such trial shall take place. martial. 8. EVERY general court-martial convened within the United Kingdom or the British Isles shall consist of not less Powers of gethan nine commissioned officers, each of whom shall have neral courtsheld a commission for three years before the date of the assembly of the court. Every general court-martial shall have power to sentence any officer or soldier to suffer death, penal servitude, imprisonment, forfeiture of pay or pension, or any other punishment which shall accord with the usage of the service:--No sentence of death by a court-martial shall pass unless two-thirds at least of the officers present shall concur therein;no sentence of penal servitude shall be for a period of less than five years;and no sentence of imprisonment shall be for a period longer than two years. 5 9. EVERY district or garrison court-martial convened within the United Kingdom or the British Isles shall consist of not less than seven commissioned officers, and shall have the same power as This was inserted in 1804 by the advice of the Law Officers. Bk. 1, p. 230. This is a vital principle in the Military Administration of Justice, and the Officer must be careful to follow the terms of his Warrant. It was added to the section in 1865. The Reports of Sir Charles Gould and the Law Officers on this P 1753, printed in Vol. I. p. 539. Chap. VII. pars. 46, 47. This must be in that Service in which he is then acting as J the Army or Militia, as he may be sitting in one or other of those This relates rather to the measure than the nature of the pu must (I apprehend) accord with the usages of English Law. S |