Report of martial to be transmitted to Judge Advocate General. Power to inflict Forfeiture of Pay on being found guilty of Desertion, &c., or on Convic tion for Felony. Mutiny. Records of such Court, or the Deputy of such Clerk, setting forth the Offence of which the Prisoner was convicted, together with the Judgment of the Court thereon, and purporting to be signed by such Clerk or other Officer, or by the Deputy of such Clerk, or if such Certificate cannot conveniently be obtained, a Copy thereof, duly certified by the Officer producing it, shall be sufficient Evidence of such last-mentioned Conviction; and it shall not be necessary to prove the Signature or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed such last-mentioned Certificate, nor, if the Court be satisfied from all the Circumstances of the Case that the Prisoner under Trial is the Person mentioned in such Certificate, shall it be necessary to give other Proof of the Identity of the Person of the Offender: Provided always, that before any such Evidence shall be received it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of the Court that the Prisoner had previously to his Trial received Notice of the Intention to produce such Evidence against him; provided also, that the Court shall in no Case award to him any other Punishment or Punishments than may by this Act and by the Articles of War be awarded for the Offence of which he shall be so found guilty. XVII. Every Judge Advocate, or Person officiating as such at a General Court-martial, and the President of every District or Garrison Court-martial, where the Offender shall be a Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier belonging to Her Majesty's Army, are required to transmit, with as much Expedition as may be, the original Proceedings and Sentence thereof to the Judge Advocate General in London, in whose Office they shall be carefully preserved; and any Person tried by a General Court-martial, or any Person on his Behalf, shall be entitled, on Demand, to a Copy of such Proceedings and Sentence (paying for the same at the Rate of Fourpence per Folio of Seventy-two Words), whether such Sentence shall be approved or not, at any Time not sooner than Six Months after the Trial, if the same took place at Gibraltar or in the Mediterranean, Three Months if at any other Station within Europe, and Twelve Months if elsewhere in Her Majesty's Dominions; provided that such Demand as aforesaid shall have been made within the Space of Three Years from the Date of the Approval or other final Decision upon the Proceedings before such General Court-martial: Provided also, that the Proceedings of District and Garrison Courts-martial need not be preserved after the Expiration of a Period of Twelve Years from the Date of their Deposit in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. XXV. Any Court-martial may sentence any Soldier to Corporal Punishment not extending to Life or Limb for Desertion or for disgraceful Conduct as herein-after mentioned, Misbehaviour, or Neglect of Duty; provided that no such Sentence of Corporal Punishment exceed Fifty Lashes. XXIX. Every Soldier who shall be found guilty by a Courtmartial of Desertion, of wilfully maiming or injuring himself or any other Soldier, whether at the Instance of such other Soldier or not, or of causing himself to be maimed or injured by any other Person, with Intent thereby to render himself or such other Soldier Mutiny. Soldier unfit for Service, or of tampering with his Eyes, with Intent thereby to render himself unfit for Service, such Finding having been confirmed, or of Felony in any Court of ordinary Criminal Jurisdiction in England or Ireland, or of any Crime or Offence in any Court of Criminal Judicature in any Part of the United Kingdom, or in any Dominion, Territory, Colony, Settlement, or Island belonging to or occupied by Her Majesty out of the United Kingdom, which would, if committed in England, amount to Felony, shall thereupon forfeit all Advantage as to additional Pay, Good-conduct Pay, and to Pension on Discharge, which might have otherwise accrued from the Length of his former Service, in addition to any Punishment which such Court may award; and every Soldier who may be so convicted, or who may be sentenced to Penal Servitude, or discharged with Ignominy, shall thereupon likewise forfeit all Medals which he may be in possession of, whether for Field Service or for Good Conduct, together with the Annuity or Gratuity thereto appertaining; and any Serjeant reduced to the Ranks by Sentence of Court-martial may by the Order of the same Court be made to forfeit the Annuity and Medal for meritorious Service which may have been conferred upon him. XXXV. On the first and on every subsequent Conviction for Marking Desertion the Court-martial, in addition to any other Punishment, Deserters. may order the Offender to be marked Two Inches below and One Inch in rear of the Nipple of the Left Breast with the Letter D, such Letter not to be less than an Inch long, and to be marked upon the Skin with some Ink or Gunpowder, or other Preparation, so as to be visible and conspicuous, and not liable to be obliterated. XLVI. Upon reasonable Suspicion that a Person is a Deserter Apprehension it shall be lawful for any Constable, or if no Constable can be of Deserters in immediately met with, then for any Officer or Soldier in Her the United Majesty's Service, or other Person, to apprehend or cause to be Kingdom. apprehended such suspected Person, and forthwith to bring him or cause him to be brought before any Justice living in or near the Place where he was so apprehended and acting for the County or Borough wherein such Place is situate or for the County adjoining such first-mentioned County or such Borough; and such Justice is hereby authorized and required to inquire whether such suspected Person is a Deserter, and from Time to Time to defer the said Inquiry and to remand the said suspected Person in the Manner prescribed by an Act passed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Forty-two, Section Twenty-one, and subject to every Provision therein contained, and if it shall appear to the Satisfaction of such Justice by the Testimony of One or more Witnesses, taken upon Oath, or by the Confession of such suspected Person, confirmed by some corroborative Evidence upon Oath, or by the Knowledge of such Justice, that such suspected Person is a Deserter, such Justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed in Civil Custody to the Head Quarters or Depôt of the Regiment or Corps to which he belongs, if stationed within a convenient and easily accessible Mutiny. accessible Distance from the Place of Commitment, or if not so stationed then to the nearest or most convenient public Prison (other than a Military Prison set apart under the Authority of this Act) or Police Station legally provided as a Lock-up House for temporary Confinement of Persons taken into Custody, whether such Prison or Police Station be in the County or Borough in which such suspected Person was apprehended or in which he was committed, or not; or if the Deserter has been apprehended by a Party of Soldiers of his own Regiment or Corps in charge of a Commissioned Officer, such Justice may deliver him up to such Party, unless the Officer shall deem it necessary to have the Deserter committed to Prison for safe Custody; and such Justice shall transmit an Account of the Proceedings, in the Form prescribed in the Schedule annexed to this Act, to the Secretaryat-War, specifying therein whether such Deserter was delivered to his Regiment or Corps, or to the Party of his Regiment or Corps, in order to his being taken to the Head Quarters or Depôt of his Regiment or Corps, or whether such Deserter was committed to Prison, to the end that the Person so committed may be removed by an Order from the Office of the said Secretary-at-War, and proceeded against according to Law; and such Justice shall also send to the Secretary-at-War a Report stating the Names of the Persons by whom or by or through whose Means the Deserter was apprehended and secured; and the Secretary-at-War shall transmit to such Justice an Order for the Payment to such Persons of such Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings as the Secretary-at-War shall be satisfied they are entitled to according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act; and for such Information, Commitment, and Report as aforesaid the Clerk of the said Justice shall be entitled to a Fee of Two Shillings and no more; and every Gaoler and other Person into whose Custody any Person charged with Desertion is committed shall immediately upon the Receipt of the Person so charged into his Custody pay such Fee of Two Shillings, and also upon the Production of a Receipt from the Medical Practitioner who, in the Absence of a Military Medical Officer, may have been required to examine such suspected Person, a Fee of Two Shillings and Sixpence, and shall notify the Fact to the Secretary-at-War, and transmit also to the Secretaryat-War a Copy of the Commitment, to the end that such SecretaryIn the Colonies. at-War may order Repayment of such Fees; and when any Person shall be apprehended and committed as a Deserter in any of Her Majesty's Colonies the Justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed to some public Prison, if the Regiment or Corps to which he is suspected to belong shall not be in the Colony, or, if the Regiment or Corps be in the Colony, the Justice may deliver him into Custody at the nearest Military Post if within reasonable Distance, although the Regiment to which such Person is suspected to belong may not be stationed at such Military Post; and such Justice shall in every Case transmit to the General or other Officer commanding in the Colony a Descriptive Return in the Form prescribed in the Schedule to this Act annexed, to the Mutiny. the end that such Person may be removed by Order of such Officer, and proceeded against according to Law. nected with Enlistment. LVII. Any Recruit who shall have enlisted into and been Further attested for Her Majesty's Army or for Her Majesty's Indian Offences conArmy, and who shall be discovered to be incapable of active Service by reason of any Infirmity concealed or not declared by such Recruit before the Justice at the Time of his Attestation, may be transferred to any Garrison or Veteran or Invalid Battalion or Company, notwithstanding he shall have enlisted for any particular Regiment or Corps, and shall be entitled to receive such Proportion or Residue of Bounty only as Her Majesty may allow in that Behalf, instead of the Bounty upon which such Recruit shall have been enlisted, anything in any Act or Acts, or any Rules and Regulations relating to Soldiers, to the contrary notwithstanding; and it shall be lawful for any Two Justices acting for the County, District, City, Burgh, or Place where any such Recruit shall at any Time happen to be when any such Recruit shall be brought before them, and shall be proved upon Oath to have concealed his having been a Soldier and discharged, or to have concealed his having been discharged upon any prior Enlistment, or to have concealed any such Infirmity, or to have designedly made any false Representation, before or at the Time of receiving Enlisting Money or before the Justice at the Time of his Attestation, to adjudge such Recruit, if in England, to be a Rogue and Vagabond, and to sentence him to such Punishment as by any Law in force may be inflicted upon Rogues and Vagabonds, and to adjudge such Recruit, if in Scotland or Ireland, to be imprisoned, with Hard Labour, in any Prison or House of Correction for any Period not exceeding Three Months; and any Recruit who shall designedly make any false Representation of any Particular contained in the Declarations, Oaths, and Certificates in the Schedule to this Act annexed, before or at the Time of receiving Enlisting Money, or before the Justice, at the Time of his Attestation, and shall obtain any Enlisting Money or Bounty for entering into Her Majesty's Service, or any other Money, shall be deemed guilty of obtaining Money under false Pretences, within the true Intent and Meaning, if in England, of an Act passed in the Seventh and Eighth Years of His Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and 7 & 8 G. 4. amending the Laws in England relative to Larceny and other c. 29. Offences connected therewith, and, if in Ireland, of an Act passed in the Ninth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending the 9 G. 4. c. 55. Laws in Ireland relative to Larceny and other Offences connected therewith, and such Recruit, if in Scotland, shall be deemed guilty of Falsehood, Fraud, and wilful Imposition; and any attested Recruit who shall in any Part of Her Majesty's Dominions or elsewhere have committed any of the before-mentioned Offences regarding Enlistment may be summarily punished or prosecuted, tried and convicted, for any such Offence, at any Time during the Continuance of the Service for which he shall have enlisted, and in any County or Place where he may happen to be when such summary Mutiny. summary Proceeding or Prosecution shall be instituted; and the Production of the Declaration in the Schedule to this Act annexed, made by the Recruit on his Attestation, and of the Certificate then signed by the Justice before whom the Recruit was attested, certifying that the Questions and Answers contained in the Attestation were in his Presence put to and given by such Recruit, shall, in the Absence of Proof to the contrary, be deemed and taken to be sufficient Evidence of such Recruit having represented the several Particulars as stated in the Declaration made by him; and Proof upon Oath that the Person so prosecuted hath voluntarily acknowledged that at the Time of his Enlistment he belonged to any Regiment or Corps in Her Majesty's Service, or to Her Majesty's Navy or Marines, or to Her Majesty's Indian Forces, shall be deemed and taken as Evidence of the Fact so by him acknowledged, without Production of any Roll or other Document to prove the same; and the Proof of such Acknowledgment shall be certified to the Secretary-at-War by the Justice before whom such Proof shall have been given; and any Man having been enrolled as a Volunteer under the Act Fifteenth and Sixteenth Victoria, Chapter Fifty, or any subsequent Acts, to serve in the Militia, who at the Time of offering to enlist into Her Majesty's Army or Marines, or into Her Majesty's Indian Forces, or to enter into Her Majesty's Navy, shall deny that he is a Militia Man then actually enrolled and engaged to serve in the Militia, and who shall not have completed his Engagement by Attestation or by being entered on the Books of the Navy, shall, upon Conviction thereof before any Justice of the Peace in the United Kingdom, either upon the Oath of One Witness or upon his own Confession, be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for any Time not exceeding Fourteen Days; and any Man enrolled as aforesaid who may have denied or shall hereafter deny, or who may have confessed or shall hereafter confess, to the Justice before whom he shall have been or shall be attested for the Army or Marine Forces, or for Her Majesty's Indian Forces, or who may have denied or shall hereafter deny, or who may have confessed or shall hereafter confess, on or after the Completion of his Engagement to enter the Navy, that he belongs to the Militia, shall not be liable to Imprisonment for such Offence, but shall, upon Conviction thereof before any One Justice in the United Kingdom, or before a Regimental Court-martial or Naval Court of Inquiry, either upon his own Confession or upon the Oath of One Witness, forfeit all Militia Bounty which would have become payable to him during the Period of his belonging to Her Majesty's Forces, or to Her Majesty's Indian Forces, or to the Royal Navy, if he had not therein enlisted or entered, and be subjected to a Stoppage of One Penny a Day from his Pay for Eighteen Calendar Months, to be applied as the Secretary-atWar shall direct; or if enrolled in the Militia as a balloted Man or Substitute shall, if convicted before any One Justice as aforesaid, be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction or any Time not exceeding Six Calendar Months over and above any Penalty or Punishment to which such Person so offending may |