Page images
PDF
EPUB

House, or other Place of Confinement in any Part of He Majesty's Dominions, shall diet and supply every Soldie imprisoned by the Sentence of a Court-martial or as a Deserte with Fuel and other Necessaries according to the Regulation of such Place of Confinement, and shall receive on account o every Soldier, during the Period of his Imprisonment, Six pence per Diem, which the Secretary-at-War shall cause to be issued out of the Subsistence of such Soldier upon Application in Writing signed by any Justice within whose Jurisdiction such Place of Confinement shall be locally situated, together with a Copy of the Order of Commitment, and which Sum of Sixpence per Diem shall be carried to the Credit of the Fund from which the Expense of such Place of Confinement is defrayed. XLIII. Every Gaoler, or Person having the immediate Expiration of Inspection of any public Prison, Gaol, House of Correction, or Imprisonment other Place of Confinement, to whom any Notice shall have Gaols. been given, or who shall have Reason to believe or to know, that any Person in his Custody for any Offence, Civil or Military, is a Soldier liable to serve Her Majesty on the Expiration of his Imprisonment, shall give, if in Great Britain to the Secretary-at-War, and if in Ireland to the General commanding Her Majesty's Forces in Ireland, One Month's Notice of the Period of such Expiration of Imprisonment, or if there shall not be sufficient Time for a Month's Notice then the longest practicable Notice thereof.

in Common

XLIV. Musters shall be taken of every Regiment, Troop, Musters and or Company in Her Majesty's Service, twice at least in every Punishment for Year, at such Times as shall be appointed; and no Soldier false Musters. shall be absent from such Musters unless properly certified to be employed on some other Duty of the Regiment, or to be sick, or in Prison, or on Furlough; and every Officer who shall make any false or untrue Muster of Man or Horse, or shall wittingly or willingly allow or sign the Muster Roll wherein such false Muster is contained, or any Duplicate thereof, or who shall directly or indirectly take or cause to be taken any Money or Gratuity for mustering any Soldiers, or for signing any Muster Rolls or Duplicates thereof, or shall knowingly muster any Person by a wrong Name, upon Proof thereof upon Oath made by Two Witnesses before a General Courtmartial, shall for such Offence be forthwith cashiered, and shall be thereby utterly_disabled to have or hold any Civil or Military Office or Employment within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in Her Majesty's Service.

Desertion after

XLV. Every Soldier shall be liable to be tried and Trials for punished for Desertion from any Corps into which he may subsequent have unlawfully enlisted, although he may of right belong to Re-enlistment. another Corps and be a Deserter therefrom, and whether such Soldier shall be tried for Desertion from the Corps to which he may of right belong, or whether such Soldier shall be tried for deserting from the Corps to which he may of right belong,

or

Apprehension of Deserters in

the United Kingdom.

or from the Corps into which he may have unlawfully enlisted, or for any other Desertion, every Desertion previous or subsequent to that for which he may at the Time be taking his Trial may, if duly stated in the Charges, be given in Evidence against him on such Trial.

XLVI. Upon reasonable Suspicion that a Person is a Deserter it shall be lawful for any Constable, or if no Constable can be immediately met with, then it shall be lawful for any Officer or Soldier in Her Majesty's Service, to apprehend or cause such suspected Person to be apprehended, and to bring or cause him to be brought before any Justice living in or near such Place, 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 if it shall appear by the Testimony of One or more Witnesses, taken upon Oath, or by the Confession of such suspected Person, confirmed by some corroborative Evidence, or by the Knowledge of such Justice, or by Evidence sufficient to satisfy such Justice that there are reasonable Grounds for believing 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 to which he belongs, if stationed within Five Miles of the Place of Apprehension, or if such Head Quarters or Depôt shall not be stationed within Five Miles, 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 shall have been apprehended by a Party of Soldiers of his own Regiment 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 thereof, 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 to the Party of his Regiment in order for his being taken to the Head Quarters or Depôt of his Regiment, 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 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 Secretary-at-War a Copy of the Commitment, to the end that such Secretary-atWar may order Repayment of the same; and when any Person In the Colonies. 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 to which he is suspected to belong shall not be in the Colony, or, if the Regiment be in the Colony, the Justice may, if within reasonable Distance, deliver him into Custody at the nearest Military Post, 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 Description Return in the Form prescribed, to the end that such Person may be removed by Order of such Officer, and proceeded against according to Law.

Deserters in

XLVII. Every Gaoler, or Person having the immediate Temporary Inspection of any public Prison, Gaol, House of Correction, Custody of Lock-up House, or other Place of Confinement in any Part Gaols. of Her Majesty's Dominions, is hereby required to receive and confine every Deserter who shall be delivered into his Custody by any Soldier conveying such Deserter under lawful Authority, on Production of the Warrant of the Justice of the Peace on which such Deserter shall have been taken, or some Order from the Office of the Secretary-at-War, which Order shall continue in force until the Deserter shall have arrived at his Destination; and such Gaoler or Person shall be entitled to One Shilling for the safe Custody of the said Deserter while halted on the March, and to such Subsistence for his Maintenance as shall be directed by Her Majesty's Regulations.

Recruits.

XLVIII. Any Recruit who shall desert prior to joining the Desertion of Regiment for which he has enlisted shall, on being apprehended, and committed for such Desertion by any Justice of the Peace upon the Testimony of One or more Witnesses upon Oath, or upon his own Confession, be liable to be transferred to any Regiment or Depôt nearest to the Place where he shall have been apprehended, or to any other Regiment to which Her Majesty may deem it more desirable that he should be transferred: Provided always, that all Cavalry Recruits so committed for Desertion shall be transferred to Cavalry Regiments, and Infantry Recruits to Infantry Regiments; and that

such

Fraudulent

Desertion.

[ocr errors]

17 VICT. such Deserters thus transferred shall not be liable to other Punishment for the Offence, or to any other Penalty, except the Forfeiture of their personal Bounty, reserving only for them that Part of the Bounty which is applicable to and required for the Provision of Necessaries.

XLIX. Any Soldier who, while serving in any of Her Confession of Majesty's Forces, or the Embodied Militia, or the Forces of the East India Company, shall to any Officer or Non-commissioned Officer fraudulently confess himself to be a Deserter, shall be liable to be tried by Court-martial, and any Person who shall voluntarily deliver himself up and confess himself to be a Deserter from Her Majesty's Forces, or the Embodied Militia, or the Forces of the East India Company, or who, upon being apprehended for any Offence, shall, in the Presence of the Justice, confess himself to be a Deserter as aforesaid, shall be deemed to have duly enlisted and to be a Soldier, and shall be liable to serve in any of Her Majesty's Forces, as Her Majesty shall think fit to appoint, whether such Person shall have been actually enlisted as a Soldier or not; or in case such Person shall not be a Deserter as aforesaid, he shall be liable to be taken before Two Justices of the Peace, and on Proof that any such Confession as aforesaid was false shall by them be adjudged to be punished, if in England as a Rogue and Vagabond, and if in Scotland or Ireland by Commitment to some Prison or House of Correction, there to be kept to Hard Labour for any Time not exceeding Three Months, or 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 amending and consolidating the Laws in England relative to Larceny and other 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 Laws in Ireland relative to Larceny and other Offences connected therewith, or shall be deemed guilty, if in Scotland, of Falsehood, Fraud, and wilful Imposition; and every Person so deemed to be guilty of obtaining Money under false Pretences, or of Falsehood, Fraud, and wilful Imposition, as the Case may be, shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly; and the Confession and receiving Subsistence as a Soldier by such Person shall be Evidence of the false Pretence, or of the Falsehood, Fraud, and Imposition, as the Case may be, and of the obtaining Money to the Amount of the Value of such Subsistence, and the Value of such Subsistence so obtained may be charged in the Indictment as so much Money received by such Person; and in case such Person shall have been previously convicted of the like Offence, or shall have been summarily convicted and punished, in England, as a Rogue and Vagabond, or in Scotland or Ireland by Commitment, for making a fraudulent Confession of Desertion, such former Con

7 & 8 G. 4. c. 29.

9 G. 4. c. 55.

viction

viction may be alleged in the Indictment, and may be proved upon the Trial of such Person; and in such Indictment for a Second Offence it shall be sufficient to state that the Offender was at a certain Time and Place convicted of obtaining Money under false Pretences as a Deserter, or for making a fraudulent Confession of Desertion, without otherwise describing the said Offence and a Certificate containing the Substance and Effect only (omitting the formal Part) of the Indictment and Conviction for the former Offence, purporting to be signed by the Clerk of the Court or other Officer having the Custody of the Records of the Court where the Offender was first convicted, or by the Deputy of such Clerk, or by the Clerk of the convicting Magistrates, shall, upon Proof of the Identity of the Person of the Offender, be sufficient Evidence of the First Conviction, without Proof of the Signature or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same; and if the Person so confessing himself to be a Deserter shall be serving at the Time in any of Her Majesty's Forces, he shall be deemed to be and shall be dealt with by all Justices and Gaolers as a Deserter.

Case of Sick

ness.

L. When there shall not be any Military Officer of Rank not Extension of inferior to Captain, or any Adjutant of Regular Militia, within Furlough in convenient Distance of the Place where any Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier on Furlough shall be detained by Sickness or other Casualty rendering necessary any Extension of such Furlough, it shall be lawful for any Justice who shall be satisfied of such Necessity to grant an Extension of Furlough for a Period not exceeding One Month; and the said Justice shall by Letter immediately certify such Extension and the Cause thereof to the Commanding Officer of the Corps or Detachment to which such Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier belongs, if known, and if not, then to the Agent of the Regiment, in order that the proper Sum may be remitted to such Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, who shall not during the Period of such Extension of Furlough be liable to be treated as a Deserter: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any Soldier from Trial and Punishment, according to the Provisions of this Act, for any false Representation made by him in that Behalf to the said Justice, or for any Breach of Discipline committed by him in applying for and obtaining the said Extension of Furlough.

be tried by

LI. No Person subject to this Act, having been acquitted or No Person convicted of any Crime or Offence by the Civil Magistrate, or acquitted or by the Verdict of a Jury, shall be liable to be again tried for the Civil convicted by the same Crime or Offence by a Court-martial, or punished for Magistrate or the same, otherwise than by cashiering; and whenever any by a Jury to Officer or Soldier shall have been tried by any Court of ordinary Court-martial Criminal Jurisdiction, the Clerk of such Court or other Officer for the same having the Custody of the Records of such Court, or the Offence. Deputy of such Clerk, shall, if required by the Officer commanding the Regiment to which such Officer or Soldier shall C

[No. 3. Price 2d.]

belong,

« EelmineJätka »