Powers of District or Garrison Courts-martial. Majesty, or, if in the East Indies, to the Officer commanding as aforesaid. IX. And be it enacted, That a District or Garrison Court-martial shall consist of not less than Seven Commissioned Officers, except in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Saint Helena, Africa, 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: In tampering with his Eyes: In malingering, feigning Disease, absenting himself from Hospital In stealing any Money or Goods, the Property of a Comrade, of In embezzling or fraudulently misapplying Public Money en- Or in committing any Petty Offence of a felonious or fraudulent Or for any other disgraceful Conduct, being of a cruel, indecent, And such Offender may be further put under Stoppages, not exceeding Two Thirds of his daily Pay, until the Amount be made good of any Loss or Damage arising out of his Misconduct; and if any Soldier shall be convicted of any such disgraceful Conduct, and shall be sentenced to Forfeiture of his Claim to Pension, the Court may further recommend him to be discharged with Ignominy from Her Majesty's Service; and any such Court shall deprive a Soldier, if convicted of a Charge of habitual Drunkenness, of his Liquor when issued in Kind, or of his Allowance in lieu of Beer or Liquor, or of such Proportion thereof, or of such Portion of his additional or regular Pay, for such Period, not exceeding Two Years, as may accord accord with Her Majesty's Articles of War, subject to Restoration on subsequent good Conduct; and in addition to any such Punishment, the Court may, if it shall think fit, sentence such Offender to Imprisonment or to Corporal Punishment; provided that in all the foregoing Cases the Sentences of a District or Garrison Courtmartial shall be confirmed by the General Officer, Governor, or Senior Officer in command of the District, Garrison, Island, or Colony; and the President of every Court-martial, other than a General Court-martial, not being under the Rank of Captain, shall be appointed by the Officer convening such Court-martial; provided that such Court-martial shall not have Power to pass any Sentence of Death or Transportation. tion; and mark ing a Deserter. XI. And be it enacted, That every Soldier who shall be found Forfeiture of guilty of Desertion by a General, or District, or Garrison Court- Pay and Penmartial, where such Findings shall be duly approved, or of Felony, sion by Deserin any Court of Civil Judicature in the United Kingdom, or of any Crime or Offence in any Court of Civil or Criminal Judicature in any Dominion, Territory, Colony, Settlement, or Island belonging to or occupied by Her Majesty out of the United Kingdom, which would if committed therein be Felony, shall thereupon forfeit all Advantage as to additional 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 it shall be lawful for any Court martial empowered to try the Crime of Desertion, in addition to any other Punishment, to direct that the Offender be marked on the left Side, Two Inches below the Arm-pit, 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. XIII. And be it enacted, That in certain Cases, where it may Mixture of be necessary or expedient, Officers of Her Majesty's Marine Forces Officers upon may sit upon Courts-martial in conjunction with Officers of Her Courts-martial. Majesty's Land Forces, and such Courts-martial shall be regulated, to all Intents and Purposes, in like Manner as if they were composed of Officers of the Land Forces only, whether the Commanding Officer by whose Order such Court-martial is assembled belongs to the Land or to the Marine Forces; and Officers of Her Majesty's Land Forces and Officers in the Service of the East India Company, when serving together, may be associated in Courts-martial, which shall, to all Intents and Purposes, be regulated in like Manner as if consisting wholly of Officers of Her Majesty's Land Forces, or wholly of Officers in the Service of the East India Company; save and except that on the Trial of any Person in Her Majesty's Land Forces, the Provisions of this Act, and the Oaths thereby prescribed, shall be applicable; and that on the Trial of any Person belonging to Her Majesty's Marine Forces, the Provisions of an Act passed in the present Session of Parliament for the Regulation of Her Majesty's Royal Marine Forces while on shore, and the Oaths thereby prescribed, shall be applicable; and on the Trial of any Officer or Soldier in the Service of the East India Company the Provisions of an Act passed in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, to amend the Laws for punishing Mutiny and Desertion of Officers and Soldiers in the Persons subject to this Act. Offences connected with Enlistment. Service of the East India Company, and the Oaths thereby prescribed, shall be applicable, notwithstanding any Officer in the actual Service of the said Company may have a Commission from Her Majesty or from His late Majesty King William the Fourth. XXXII. And be it enacted, That all the Provisions of this Act shall apply to all Persons employed on the Recruiting Service receiving Pay in respect of such Service, and to the Forces of the East India Company while they 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 and the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners, and in the Corps of Royal Military Surveyors and Draftsmen, and to Persons in the Ordnance and in the Commissariat Departments, 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 other Civil Officers who are or shall be employed by or act under the Ordnance at any of Her Majesty's Ordnance Establishments at Foreign Stations; provided that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to affect any Security which has been given by such Storekeeper, Barrack Master, or other Officer, or their Sureties, for the due Performance of their respective Offices, under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Fiftieth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, to regulate the taking of Securities in all Offices, but that such Bonds and other Securities shall be and remain in full Force and Effect. XXXVIII. And be it enacted, That if any Recruit shall receive the Enlisting Money from any Person employed in the Recruiting Service (knowing it to be such), and shall abscond or refuse to go before such Justice, or shall thereafter absent himself from the Recruiting Party or Person with whom he enlisted, and shall not voluntarily return to go before some Justice within such Period of Four Days as aforesaid, such Recruit shall be deemed to be enlisted and a Soldier in Her Majesty's Service, as fully to all Intents and Purposes as if he had been duly attested, and may be apprehended and punished as a Deserter, or for being absent without Leave, under any Articles of War made for Punishment of Mutiny and Desertion; and such Recruit shall not be discharged by any Justice of the Peace after the Expiration of such Four Days as aforesaid, unless it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of such Justice that the true Name and Residence of the Recruit were disclosed and known to the Recruiting Party, and that no Notice was given to the Recruit, or left at his usual Place of Abode, of his having so enlisted; provided that in every Case wherein any Recruit shall have received Enlisting Money, and shall have absconded from the Party, so that it shall not be possible immediately to apprehend and bring him before a Justice, the Officer or Non-commissioned Officer commanding the Party shall produce to the Justice before whom the Recruit ought regularly to have been brought for Attestation a Certificate of the Name and Place of Residence of such Recruit; and the Justice to whom such Certificate shall be produced shall, after 7 after satisfying himself that the Recruit who had absconded cannot be found and apprehended, transmit a Duplicate thereof to Her Majesty's Secretary at War, in order that, in the Event of such Recruit being afterwards apprehended and reported as a Deserter, the Facts of his having received Enlisting Money, and having absconded after having been enlisted, may be ascertained, before he be finally adjudged to be a Deserter; and any Recruit who shall enlist into Her Majesty's Forces, 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, or into Her Majesty's Marine Forces, notwithstanding he shall have enlisted for any particular Regiment, 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 Man shall have been enlisted, any thing 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 before whom such Recruit shall be brought, and who shall be proved upon Oath, before them, 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 wilfully concealed any such Infirmity upon being attested, or to have designedly made any false Representation as aforesaid, to adjudge such Person, if in England or Ireland, 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 Vagrants and incorrigible Rogues; and to adjudge such Person, if in Scotland, to be imprisoned in any Prison or House of Correction for any Period not exceeding Six Months, and with or without hard Labour; and any Recruit who shall designedly make any false Representation of any Particular contained in the Oaths and Certificates in the Schedule to this Act annexed, 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 Aet, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending 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 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 the Production. of such Certificate, and Proof of the Handwriting of the Justice giving such Certificate, shall be sufficient Evidence of such Party having represented the several Particulars contained in the Oath sworn by him, and specified in the Certificate of the Justice at the Time of his being attested; and that Proof by the Oath of One or more credible Witnesses that the Person so prosecuted hath voluntarily acknowledged that at the Time of his Enlistment he belonged to the Militia, or to any Regiment in Her Majesty's Service, or to Her Majesty's Ordnance, Navy, or Marines, shall 7 & 8 G. 4. c.29. Penalty on pur- Necessaries, 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 such 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 to serve in the Militia at the Time of offering to enlist who shall deny that he is a Militia Man then actually enrolled and engaged to serve, or shall deny to the Justice before whom he shall be attested that he belongs to the Militia, shall, on Conviction thereof before any One Justice in the United Kingdom, either upon Oath of One Witness or upon his own Confession, or upon the Production of the Attestation, and the before-mentioned Acknowledgment of such Person, certified by the Secretary at War or Deputy Secretary at War, be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, there to remain without Bail or Mainprize, for and during any Time not exceeding Six Calendar Months, over and above any Penalty or Punishment to which such Person so offending may be otherwise liable, and shall from the Day on which his Engagement to serve in the Militia shall end, and not sooner, belong as a Soldier to the Corps of Her Majesty's Regular Forces, or of the East India Company's Forces, into which he shall have so enlisted; provided that every such Person shall be liable to serve within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in any Regiment, Battalion, or Corps of Her Majesty's Regular Forces, or of the East India Company's Forces, in which he has so enlisted, during all the Time the Militia to which he shall belong shall remain disembodied, or shall not be called out for Training or Exercise, and shall during all such Time be subject to all the Provisions of this Act, and liable to be apprehended and dealt with and punished as a Deserter from the Corps in which he shall have so enlisted, if he shall neglect or refuse to join and serve in such Corps as aforesaid. LXVI. And be it enacted, That any Person who shall unlawfully have in his or her Possession or Keeping, or who shall knowingly detain, buy, exchange, or receive from any Soldier or Deserter, or any other Person, on any Pretence whatsoever, or shall solicit or entice any Soldier, or shall be employed by any Soldier knowing him to be such, to sell, any Arms, Ammunition, Clothes, or Military Furniture, or any Provisions, or any Sheets or other Articles used in Barracks, provided under Barrack Regulations, or Regimental Necessaries, or any Article of Forage provided for any Horses belonging to Her Majesty's Service, or shall change the Colour of any Clothes as aforesaid, shall forfeit for every such Offence any Sum not exceeding Twenty Pounds, together with Treble Value of all or any of the several Articles of which such Offender shall so become possessed; and if any Person having been so convicted shall afterwards be guilty of any such Offence, and shall be convicted thereof by One or more Justices of the Peace, every such Offender shall for every such Offence, in addition to the Forfeiture of Treble Value of all or any of the several Articles of which such Offender shall have so become possessed, be committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, there to be imprisoned only, or to be imprisoned and kept to hard Labour, for such Term not exceeding Six Calendar Months as the |