and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by

the Authority of the same, That if any Person who is or shall Crimes punishbe commissioned or in Pay as an Officer, or who is or shall be able by Death. listed or in Pay as a Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, shall, at any Time during the Continuance of this Act, begin, excite, cause, or join in any Mutiny or Sedition in Her Majesty's Land or Marine Forces, or shall not use his utmost Endeavours to suppress the same, or coming to the Knowledge of any Mutiny or intended Mutiny shall not, without Delay, give Information thereof to his Commanding Officer; or shall misbehave himself before the Enemy; or shall shamefully abandon or deliver up any Garrison, Fortress, Post, or Guard committed to his Charge, or which he shall be commanded to defend; or shall compel the Governor or Conimanding Officer of any Garrison, Fortress, or Post to deliver up to the Enemy or to abandon the same; or shall speak Words or use any other Means to induce such Governor or Commanding Officer, or others, to misbehave before the Enemy, or shamefully to abandon or deliver up any Garrison, Fortress, Post, or Guard committed to their respective Charge, or which he or they shall be commanded to defend; or shall leave his Post before relieved, or shall be found sleeping on his Post; or shall hold Correspondence with or give Advice or Intelligence to any Rebel or Enemy of Her Majesty, either by Letters, Messages, Signs, or Tokens, in any Manner or Way whatsoever; or shall treat or enter into any Terms with such Rebel or Enemy without Her Majesty's Licence or Licence of the General or Chief Commander; or shall strike or shall use or offer any Violence against his Superior Officer, being in the Execution of his Office, or shall disobey any lawful Command of his Superior Officer; or shall desert Her Majesty's Service; all and every Person and Persons so offending in any of the Matters before mentioned, whether such Offence shall be committed within this Realm, or in any other of Her Majesty's Dominions, or in Foreign Parts, upon Land or upon the Sea, shall suffer Death, or such other Punishment as by a Courtmartial shall be awarded.

II. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained The ordinary shall be construed to exempt any Officer or Soldier from being Course of Law proceeded against by the ordinary Course of Law; and any not to be interCommanding Officer who shall neglect or refuse, when Application is made to him for that Purpose, to deliver over to the Civil Magistrate any Officer or Soldier accused of any Capital Crime, or of any Violence or Offence against the Person, Estate, or Property of any of Her Majesty's Subjects, which is punishable by the known Laws of the Land, or shall wilfully neglect or refuse to assist the Officers of Justice in apprehending such Offender, shall, upon Conviction thereof in any Prosecution in any of Her Majesty's Courts at Westminster, Dublin, or Edinburgh, be deemed to be ipso facto cashiered, and shall be utterly disabled to have or hold any Civil or Military Office or Employment within the United Kingdom of Great

Britain

Soldiers not to

from the Ser

vice for Debts under 301.

Britain and Ireland, or in Her Majesty's Service, and a Certificate thereof shall be transmitted to the Judge Advocate in London; provided that no Person, being acquitted or convicted of any Capital Crime, Violence, or Offence, by the Civil Magistrate, or by the Verdict of a Jury, shall be liable to be punished by a Court-martial for the same otherwise than by cashiering.

III. And be it enacted, That no Person whatever enlisted be taken away into Her Majesty's Service as a Soldier shall be liable to be arrested or taken therefrom by reason of the Warrant of any Justice or other Process for not supporting or for leaving chargeable 'on any Parish, Township, or Union any Wife or any Child or Children, or (except in the Case of an Apprentice) on account of any Breach of Contract or Engagement to serve or work for any Employer; and no Person enlisted as a Soldier, or serving as a Non-commissioned Officer or Drummer on the permanent Staff of the disembodied Militia, shall be liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's Service by any Process or Execution whatsoever, other than for some Criminal Matter, unless an Affidavit shall be made by the Plaintiff, or some one on his Behalf, for which no Fee shall be taken, before some Judge of the Court out of which such Process or Execution shall issue, or before some Person authorized to take Affidavits in such Courts, of which Affidavit a Memorandum shall, without Fee, be endorsed upon the Back of such Process, that the original Debt for which the Action has been brought or Execution sued out amounts to the Value of Thirty Pounds at least, over and above all Costs of Suit in the Action or Actions on which the same shall be grounded; and any Judge of such Court may examine into any Complaints made by a Soldier, or by his Superior Officer, and by Warrant under his Hand discharge such Soldier without Fee, he being shown to be duly enlisted, and to have been arrested contrary to the Intent of this Act, and shall award reasonable Costs to such Complainant, who shall have for the Recovery thereof the like Remedy as would have been applicable to the Recovery of any Costs which might have been awarded against the Complainant in any Judgment or Execution as aforesaid; provided that any Plaintiff, upon Notice of the Cause of Action first given in Writing to any Soldier, or left at his last Quarters or Place of Residence before such Listing, may file a Common Appearance in any Action to be brought for or upon account of any Debt whatsoever, and proceed therein to Judgment and Outlawry, and have Execution other than against the Body.

The Queen

may make Ar

ticles of War in conformity with this Act.

IV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to make Articles of War for the better Government of Her Majesty's Forces, which Articles shall be judicially taken notice of by all Judges and in all Courts whatsoever; and Copies of the same, printed by the Queen's Printer, shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the same shall have been made and established by Her Majesty, be transmitted by Her Majesty's Secretary at War, signed with his own Hand and

Name,

Name, to the Judges of 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 the British Isles, shall by such Articles of War be subject to be transported as a Felon, or to suffer any Punishment extending to Life or Limb, except for Crimes which are by this Act expressly made liable to such Transportation 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.

V. And be it enacted, That Her Majesty may from Time to Constitution of Time grant a Commission, under the Royal Sign Manual, for the Courts-martial. holding of General Courts-martial within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in like Manner as has been heretofore used; and that for bringing Offenders against the Articles of War to Justice it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to erect and constitute Courts-martial within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as to grant Her Royal Commissions or Warrants 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 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 the Seas, for convening, as well as for authorizing any Officer under their respective Command not below the Degree of a Field Officer to convene, Courts-martial, as Occasion may require, for the Trial of Offences committed by any of the Forces under their several Command, whether the same shall have been committed before or after such Officer shall have taken upon himself such Command; and any Person subject to this Act, who shall in any of Her Majesty's Dominions or elsewhere commit any of the Offences for which he may be liable to be tried by Courts-martial by virtue of this Act, may be tried and punished for the same in any Part of Her Majesty's Dominions where he may have come after the Commission of the Offence, as if the Offence had been committed where such Trial shall take place.

martial.

VI. And be it enacted, That a General Court-martial con- Composition of vened in any Part of the Queen's Dominions (Bermuda, the General CourtsBahamas, Saint Helena, Africa, Jamaica, Honduras, Newfoundland, and the Australian Colonies excepted,) or in the Settlements of the East India Company, shall consist of not less than Thirteen Commissioned Officers, if convened in Jamaica, Newfoundland, Bermuda, or the Bahamas, or out of the Queen's Dominions, excepting Saint Helena, Africa, Honduras, and the Australian Colonies, shall consist of not less than Seven, and in Saint Helena, Africa, Honduras, and the Australian Colonies of not less than Five Commissioned Officers; and no Judgment of Death shall pass without the Concurrence of Two Thirds at the least of the Officers present; and the

President

Powers of General Courtsmartial.

President shall in no Case be the Officer commanding in chief or Governor of the Garrison where the Offender shall be tried, nor under the Degree of a Field Officer, unless where a Field Officer cannot be had, nor in any Case whatsoever under the Degree of a Captain.

VII. And be it enacted, That a General Court-martial may sentence any Soldier to Imprisonment, with or without hard Labour, in any public Prison or other Place which the Court, or the Officer commanding the Regiment or Corps to which the Offender belongs or is attached, shall appoint, and may also direct that such Offender shall be kept in solitary Confinement for any Portion or Portions of such Imprisonment, not exceeding One Month at a Time, or Three Months at different Times with Intervals of not less than One Month between such Times in One Year, or of such Imprisonment with hard Labour, or may sentence any Soldier to corporal Punishment, not extending to Life or Limb, for Immorality, Misbehaviour, and Neglect of Duty; and a General Court-martial may, in addition to any such Punishment as aforesaid, sentence any Offender to Forfeiture of all Advantage as to additional Pay, and Pension on Discharge, which might have otherwise accrued from the Length of his former Service, or to Forfeiture of such Advantage absolutely, whether it might have accrued from past Service or might accrue from future Service, according to the Nature of the Case; and whensoever any General Court-martial by which any Soldier shall have been tried and convicted of any Offence punishable with Death shall not think the Offence deserving of Capital Punishment, such Court-martial may, instead of awarding a corporal Punishment or Imprisonment, adjudge the Offender, according to the Degree of the Offence, to be transported as a Felon for Life or for a certain Term of Years, or may sentence him to general Service as a Soldier in any Corps and in any Country or Place which Her Majesty shall thereupon direct, or may, if such Offender shall have enlisted for a limited Term of Years, sentence him to serve for Life as a Soldier in any Corps which Her Majesty shall please to direct; and the Court may, in addition to any other Punishment, sentence such Offender to forfeit all Advantage as to Increase of Pay, or as to Pension on Discharge, which might otherwise have accrued to such Offender from the Length of his former Service, or to Forfeiture of such Advantage absolutely, whether it might have accrued from past Service or might accrue from future Service, according to the Nature of the Case; provided that in all Cases where a Capital Punishment shall have been awarded by a General Court-martial, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, or, if in the East Indies, for the Officer commanding in chief the Forces at the Presidency to which the Offender shall belong, instead of causing such Sentence to be carried into execution, to order the Offender to be transported as a Felon, either for Life or for a certain Term of Years, as shall seem meet to Her Majesty, or, if in the East Indies, to the Officer commanding as aforesaid.

VIII. And

martial for

VIII. And be it enacted, That every Paymaster or other Trial by GeneCommissioned Officer of Her Majesty's Forces, or any Person ral Courtemployed in the Ordnance or Commissariat Department, or in Embezzlement. any Manner in the Care or Distribution of any Money, Provisions, Forage, or Stores, who shall embezzle or fraudulently misapply, or be concerned in or connive at the Embezzlement, fraudulent Misapplication, or Damage, of any Money, Provisions, Forage, Arms, Clothing, Ammunition, or other Military Stores belonging to Her Majesty's Forces or for Her Use, may be tried for the same by a General Court-martial, which may adjudge any such Offender to be transported as a Felon for Life or for any certain Term of Years, or to suffer such Punishment of Fine, Imprisonment, Dismissal from Her Majesty's Service, and Incapacity of serving Her Majesty in any Office, Civil or Military, as such Court shall think fit, according to the Nature and Degree of the Offence; and every such Offender shall, in addition to any other Punishment, make good at his own Expence the Loss and Damage sustained, which shall have been ascertained by such Court-martial; and the Loss and Damage so ascertained as aforesaid shall be a Debt to Her Majesty, and may be recovered in any of Her Majesty's Courts at Westminster or in Dublin, or the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or in any Court in Her Majesty's Colonies where a Person sentenced by such Court-martial shall be resident, after the said Judgment shall be confirmed and made known.

District or
Garrison

IX. And be it enacted, That a District or Garrison Court- Powers of martial shall consist of not less than Seven Commissioned Officers, except in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Saint Helena, Africa, Courts-martial. Jamaica, Honduras, Newfoundland, and the Australian Colonies, where it may consist of not less than Five Commissioned Officers, and may sentence any Soldier to any Imprisonment, with or without hard Labour, in any public Prison or other Place which such Court, or the Officer commanding the Regiment or Corps to which the Offender belongs or is attached, shall appoint, and may also direct that such Offender shall be kept in solitary Confinement for any Portion or Portions of such Imprisonment, not exceeding One Month at a Time, or Three Months at different Times with Intervals of not less than One Month between such Times in One Year, or of such Imprisonment with hard Labour, or may sentence any Soldier to corporal Punishment, not extending to Life or Limb, for Immorality, Misbehaviour, or Neglect of Duty; and such Court may, in addition to either of the said Punishments, sentence a Soldier to Forfeiture of all Advantage as to additional Pay, and to Pension on Discharge, which might have otherwise accrued from the Length of his former Service, or to Forfeiture of such Advantage absolutely, whether it might have accrued from past Service or might accrue from future Service, according to the Nature of the Case, for disgraceful Conduct,

In wilfully maiming or injuring himself, or any other Soldier, at the Instance of such Soldier, with Intent to render himself or such Soldier unfit for Service: