CAP. VII.

An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for
the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters.
[21st April 1837.]

WHEREAS

HEREAS 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 His 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 His Majesty's Crown, and the Preservation of the Balance of Power in Europe, and that the whole Number of such Forces should Number of the 'consist of Eighty-one thousand three hundred and eleven Men, Forces.

6

being Part of an Establishment of Eighty-nine thousand three hundred and forty-seven Men, exclusive of the Officers and Men belonging to the Regiments 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 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 6 to the known and established Laws of this Realm; yet nevertheless, it being requisite, for the retaining all the beforementioned Forces in their Duty, that an exact Discipline be observed, and that Soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up Sedition, or shall desert His Majesty's Service, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy Punishment than the usual Forms of the Law will allow Be it therefore enacted by the King'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, That if any Person who is or shall be commissioned Crimes punishor in Pay as an Officer, or who is or shall be listed or in Pay able by Death. 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 His 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 Commanding 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, [No. 2. Price 2d.] Fortress,

B

The ordinary

not to be interfered with.

7 W. IV. 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 His 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 His 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 His 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 His Majesty's Dominions, or in Foreign Parts, upon Land or upon the Sea, shall suffer Death, or such other Punishment as by a Court-martial shall be awarded.

II. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained Course of Law shall be construed to exempt any Officer or Soldier from being proceeded against by the ordinary Course of Law; and any Commanding 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 His 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 His 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 and Ireland, or in His 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.

Soldiers not to

be taken away

for Debts under

III. And be it enacted, That no Person whatever enlisted into His Majesty's Service as a Soldier shall be liable to be from the Service 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, 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 His 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 indorsed 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 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.

of War in con

formity with

this Act.

IV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for His Majesty The King may to make Articles of War for the better Government of His Ma- make Articles jesty'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 King's Printer, shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the same shall have been made and established by His Majesty, be transmitted by His Majesty's Secretary at War, signed with his own Hand and Name, to the Judge of His Majesty's Superior Courts at Westminster, Dublin, and Edinburgh respectively, and also to the Governors of His 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 to be punished in any Manner or under any Regulations which shall not accord with the Provisions of this Act.

V. And be it enacted, That His Majesty may from Time Constitution of to Time grant a Commission, under the Royal Sign Manual, Courts-martial. for the 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 His Majesty to erect and constitute Courts-martial within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as to grant His Royal Commissions or Warrants to the Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, the Commander of the Forces, or the Person

Composition of

martial.

or Persons commanding in chief, or commanding for the Time being, any Body of His Majesty's Forces as well within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the British Isles, as in any of His 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 His 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 His 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.

VI. And be it enacted, That a General Court-martial conGeneral Courts-vened in any Part of the King's Dominions, (Bermuda, the Bahamas, Africa, 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 Bermuda or the Bahamas, or out of the King's Dominions excepting Africa and the Australian Colonies, shall consist of not less than Seven, and in Africa 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 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.

Powers of

General Courtsmartial.

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 di rect that such Offender shall be kept in solitary Confinement for the Whole or any Portion or Portions of such Imprisonment, 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 Öffender to Forfeiture of all Advantage as to additional Pay, and Pension on Discharge; 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

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 His Majesty shall thereupon direct, or may, if such Offen-
der shall have enlisted for a limited Term of Years, sentence him
to serve for Life as a Soldier in any Corps which His Majesty
shall please to direct; and the Court may, in addition to any
other Punishment, sentence such Offender to forfeit all Advan-
tage as to Increase of Pay, or as to Pension on Discharge, which
might otherwise have accrued to such Offender; provided that
in all Cases where a Capital Punishment shall have been awarded
by a General Court-martial it shall be lawful for His 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
His Majesty, or, if in the East Indies, to the Officer commanding
as aforesaid.

for Embezzlement.

VIII. And be it enacted, That every Paymaster or other Trial by General Commissioned Officer of His Majesty's Forces, or any Person Court-martial employed in the Ordnance or Commissariat Department, or in 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 His Majesty's Forces or for His 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 His Majesty's Service, and Incapacity of serving His 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 His Majesty, and may be recovered in any of His Majesty's Courts at Westminster or in Dublin, or the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, or in any Court in His Majesty's Colonies where a Person sentenced by such Court-martial shall be resident, after the said Judgmentshall be confirmed and made known.

IX. And be it enacted, That a District or Garrison Court- Powers of Dismartial shall consist of not less than Seven Commissioned Officers, trict or Garrison except in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Africa, and the Australian Courts-martial 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 B 3

kept