CAP. VIII.

An Act to authorize the Inclosure of certain Lands in pursuance of a Report of the Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales. [26th March 1858.]

WH WHEREAS the Enclosure Commissioners for England and Wales have, in pursuance "The Acts for the Inclosure, Exchange, and Improvement of Land," issued their Provisional Orders for and concerning the proposed Inclosures mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, and have in their Thirteenth Annual General Report certified their Opinion that such Inclosures would be expedient; but the same cannot be proceeded with without the previous Authority of Parliament:' Be it 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:

I. That the said several proposed Inclosures mentioned in the Schedule to this Act be proceeded with.

II. In citing this Act in other Acts of Parliament and in legal Instruments it shall be sufficient to use either the Expression" The Annual Inclosure Act, 1858," or "The Acts for the Inclosure, Exchange, and Improvement of Land."

SCHEDULE to which this Act refers.

Inclosures to be proceeded with.

Short Title.

Numbers, 130,135 Men.

CAP. IX.

An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters. [26th March 1858.]

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WHEREAS the raising or keeping a Standing Army within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 'Ireland in Time of Peace, unless it be with the Consent of Parliament, is against Law: And whereas it is adjudged necessary by Her Majesty and this present Parliament that a Body of Forces should be continued for the Safety of the • United Kingdom, the Defence of the Possessions of Her Majesty's Crown, and the Preservation of the Balance of Power in Europe, and that the whole Number of such Forces should consist of One hundred and thirty thousand one hundred and thirty-five Men, exclusive of the Officers and Men belonging to the Regiments and other Corps employed in the Territorial Possessions of the East India Company, but including the Officers and Men of the Troops and Companies recruiting for those Regiments and Corps: And whereas no Man can be forejudged of Life or Limb, or subjected in Time of Peace to any Kind of Punishment within this Realm, by Martial Law, or in any other Manner than by Judgment of his Peers, and according to the known and established Laws of this Realm; yet nevertheless it being requisite, for the retaining all the before-mentioned Forces in their Duty, that an exact Discipline be observed, and that Soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up Sedition, or shall desert Her Majesty's Service, or be guilty of Crimes and Offences to the Prejudice of good Order and Military Discipline, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy Punishment than the usual Forms of the Law will allow :' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual

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and

and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:

War made by

mitted to

Judges, &c.

I. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty to make Articles of Articles of War for the better Government of Her Majesty's Forces, Her Majesty which Articles shall be judicially taken notice of by all Judges to be judicially and in all Courts whatsoever; and Copies of the same, printed taken notice of, and Copies by the Queen's Printer, shall, as soon as may be after the same printed by the shall have been made and established by Her Majesty, be Queen's Printransmitted by Her Majesty's Secretary-at-War to the Judges ter to be transof Her Majesty's Superior Courts at Westminster, Dublin, and 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 be kept in Penal Servitude, or to suffer to suffer any Punishment extending to Life or Limb, except for Crimes which are by this Act expressly made liable to Penal Servitude or to such Punishment 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.

II. All the Provisions of this Act shall apply to all Persons Persons subject who are or shall be commissioned or in Pay as an Officer, or to this Act. who are or shall be listed or in Pay as a Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, and to all Persons employed on the Recruiting Service receiving Pay in respect of such Service, and to the Officers and Soldiers belonging to the Forces of the East India Company while such Officers or Soldiers shall be in any Part of the United Kingdom, and to the Officers and Persons who are or shall be serving and hired to be employed in the Royal Artillery and Field Train, and to Master Gunners, and Gunners, and Conductors of Stores, and to all Officers and Persons who are or shall be serving in the Regiment of Royal Engineers or the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners, or in the Corps of Royal Military Surveyors and Draftsmen, or in the Field Train or Medical Staff Corps, or Hospital Corps, or Military Train, or serving as Army Schoolmasters and Armourer Serjeants, and to Persons in the War Department, who are or shall be serving with any Part of Her Majesty's Forces at home or abroad, under the Command of any Officer having Commission from Her Majesty or from His late Majesty King William the Fourth, and to all Storekeepers and all Civil Officers who are or shall be employed by or act under the War Department 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; provided that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to affect any Security which has been or shall be given by any Storekeeper, Barrack Master, or other Officer, 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.

III. This

Provisions of this Act to

III. This Act shall extend to the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and the Islands thereto belonging, as Jersey, Guern- to the Provisions herein contained for enlisting of Recruits,

extend to

sey, &c.

Foreign Troops in Her Majesty's Pay to be subject to Provisions

of this Act.

Provision as to

Yeomanry

Corps.

whether Minors or of full Age, and 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 fraudulently confess themselves to be Deserters, or 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.

IV. 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 by Her Majesty's Subjects under the Command of any Officer having any Commission immediately from Her Majesty, shall be subject to the Provisions of this Act and of Her 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.

V. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to the Militia and extend to any Militia Forces or Yeomanry or Volunteer Corps in Great Britain or Ireland, excepting only 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.

Power to constitute Courts-martial.

VI. 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 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

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 Her Majesty's Forces, 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 Courtsmartial, and for authorizing any Officer under their respective Commands to convene Courts-martial, as Occasion 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 authorized 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 authorized to convene District or Garrison Courtsmartial; and any Person subject to this Act who shall, in any Part of Her Majesty's Dominions or elsewhere, commit any of the Offences for which he may be liable to be tried by Courtmartial 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 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.

VII. A General Court-martial convened in Saint Helena, As to General the Settlements on the Western Coast of Africa, Honduras, convened in Courts-martial New Zealand, the Australian Colonies, Hong Kong, or the Saint Helena, Settlements on the Coast of China, and Prince of Wales Island, &c. Singapore, and Malacca, shall consist of not less than Five Commissioned Officers; if convened in Jamaica, the Windward and Leeward Islands, British Guiana, Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cape of Good Hope or other Settlements in Southern Africa, or in any Place out of the Queen's Dominions, excepting the Ionian Islands and the Places herein-before mentioned, it shall consist of not less than Seven, and if convened in any other Part of the Queen's Dominions, or in the Ionian Islands or in the Settlements of the East India Company, it shall consist of not less than Thirteen Commissioned Officers; and every such General Court-martial shall have Power to sentence any Officer or Soldier to suffer Death, Penal Servitude, or any other Punishment which shall accord with the Provisions of this Act.

VIII. A District or Garrison Court-martial shall consist of District or not less than Seven Commissioned Officers, except in Bermuda, Courts martial. Garrison the Bahamas, the Cape of Good Hope or other Settlements in Southern Africa, Saint Helena, Jamaica, Honduras, Newfoundland, New Zealand, the Australian Colonies, the Windward and Leeward Islands, British Guiana, Hong Kong, and the Settlements on the Coast of China, where it may consist of not less than Five Commissioned Officers, and in the Settlements on

the