to joining their ing the regiment or corps for which he has enlisted, shall, on being regiments or apprehended, and committed for such desertion by any justice of corps. the peace upon the testimony of one or more witnesses upon oath, or upon his own confession, forfeit his personal bounty, and be liable to be transferred to any regiment or corps or depôt nearest to the place where he shall have been apprehended, or to any other regiment or corps to which Her Majesty may deem it more desirable that he should be transferred: Provided always, that 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.

Fraudulent confession of desertion.

Furlough in case of sick

ness.

37. Any person who shall confess himself to be a deserter from Her Majesty's forces, or from the embodied militia, shall be liable to be taken before any two justices of the peace acting for the county, district, city, burgh, or place where any such person shall at any time happen to be when he shall be brought before them, and on proof that any such confession as aforesaid was false shall by the said justices be adjudged to be punished, if in England, as a rogue and vagabond, and if elsewhere by commitment to some prison or house of correction, there to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three calendar months; and if, when such person shall be brought before the said justices, it shall be proved to their satisfaction that such confession has been made, but evidence of the truth or falsehood of such confession shall not at that time be forthcoming, such justices within the United Kingdom are hereby required to remand such person in the manner herein-before mentioned, and to transmit a statement of the case and descriptive return to the Secretary of State for the War Department, with a request to be informed whether such person appears to belong or to have belonged to the regiment or corps from which he shall have so confessed himself to have deserted; and a letter from the War Office in reply thereto, referring to such statement, and purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Secretary of State for the War Department, shall be admissible in evidence against such person, and shall be deemed to be legal evidence of the facts stated therein, and on the receipt thereof the said justices shall forthwith proceed to adjudicate upon the case. In India the authority herein given to two justices may be exercised by one European justice or magistrate.

38. When there shall not be any military officer of rank not inferior to captain, or any adjutant of regular militia, within 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 or corps, 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.

39. No person subject to this Act, having been acquitted or No person convicted of any crime or offence by the civil magistrate, or by the acquitted or convicted by verdict of a jury, shall be liable to be again convicted for the same the civil magiscrime or offence by a court-martial, or to be punished for the same trate or by a otherwise than by cashiering in the case of a commissioned officer, jury to be tried or in the case of a warrant officer by reduction to an inferior class martial for the by a courtor to the rank of a private soldier by order of the Commander-in- same offence. Chief, or in the case of an army schoolmaster to discharge from the service, or loss of the whole or any period of his previous service reckoning towards pension on discharge by order of the Commander-in-Chief, or in the case of a non-commissioned officer by reduction to the ranks by order of the Commander-in-Chief or of the colonel, or in the militia by order of the appointed commandant of the regiment or corps; and whenever any officer or soldier shall have been tried by any court of ordinary criminal jurisdiction, the clerk of such court or other officer having the custody of the records of such court, or the deputy of such clerk, shall, if required by the officer commanding the regiment or corps to which such officer or soldier shall belong, transmit to him a certificate setting forth the offence of which the prisoner was convicted, together with the judgment of the court thereon if such officer or soldier shall have been convicted, or of the acquittal of such officer or soldier, and shall be allowed for such certificate a fee of three shillings.

debts amount

40. Any person attested for Her Majesty's army, or serving on Soldiers liable the permanent staff of the disembodied militia or volunteers other to be taken out than as a commissioned officer, shall be liable to be taken out of service only for of Her Majesty's Her Majesty's service only by process or execution on account of felony, misdeany charge of felony or of misdemeanor, or of any crime or offence meanor, or for other than the misdemeanor of absenting himself from his service, ing to 30l. and or neglecting to fulfil his contract, or otherwise misconducting him- upwards. self respecting the same, or the misdemeanor of refusing to comply with an order of justices for the payment of money, or on account of an original debt proved by affidavit of the plaintiff or of some one on his behalf to amount to the value of thirty pounds at the least, over and above all costs of suit, such affidavit to be sworn, without payment of any fee, before some judge of the court out of which process or execution shall issue, or before some person authorised to take affidavits in such court, of which affidavit, when duly filed in such court, a memorandum shall, without fee, be endorsed upon the back of such process, stating the facts sworn to, and the day of filing such affidavit; but no soldier or other person as afore- Soldiers not said shall be liable by any process whatever to appear before any taken out of justice of the peace or other authority whatever, or to be taken Her Majesty's out of Her Majesty's service by any writ, summons, warrant, order, service for judgment, execution, or any process whatsoever issued by or by the authority of any court of law, or any magistrate, justice or justices breach of of the peace, or any other authority whatsoever, for any original contract.

liable to be

debts under

30%, or for

Officers not to be sheriffs or mayors, &c.

Questions to be put to recruits on enlisting.

Recruits, when

deemed to be

enlisted.

debt not amounting to thirty pounds, or for the breach of any contract, covenant, agreement, or other engagement whatever by parol or in writing, or, for having left or deserted his employer or master, or his contract, work, or labour, or misconducting himself respecting the same, except in the case of an apprentice, or of an indentured labourer, as herein-after described; and all summonses, warrants, commitments, indictments, convictions, judgments, and sentences on account of any of the matters for which it is herein declared that a soldier or other person as aforesaid is not liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's service shall be utterly illegal, and null and void, to all intents and purposes; and any judge of any such court may examine into any complaint made by a soldier or by his superior officer, and by warrant under his hand discharge such soldier, without fee, he being shown 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, or a writ of Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum shall be awarded or issued, and the discharge of any such soldier out of custody shall be ordered thereupon; provided that any plaintiff, upon notice of the cause of action first given in writing to any soldier, or left at his last quarters, may proceed in any action or suit to judgment, and have execution other than against the body or military necessaries or equipments of such soldier; provided also, that nothing herein contained relating to the leaving or deserting a master or employer, or to the breach of any contract, agreement, or engagement, shall apply to persons who shall be really and bonâ fide apprentices, duly bound, under the age of twenty-one years, or to indentured labourers, as herein-after prescribed.

41. No person who shall be commissioned and in full pay as an officer shall be capable of being nominated or elected to be sheriff of any county, borough, or other place, or to be mayor, portreeve, alderman, or to hold any office in any municipal corporation in any city, borough, or place in Great Britain or Ireland: Provided that the competence or liability of any officer to be nominated to or to hold any of the aforesaid offices shall not be deemed to be affected by reason of the corps to which he belongs being assembled for annual training at the time of his nomination to, or during the period of his tenure of, such office.

42. Every person authorised to enlist recruits or to enrol men under any Reserve Force Acts, or to enlist men under any Militia Reserve Acts, shall first ask the person about to be so enlisted or enrolled whether he belongs to any and what force in Her Majesty's service, and also such other questions as the proper authorities may direct to be put to such persons, and in case of a recruit shall immediately after giving him enlisting money serve him with a notice in the form ordered by the Secretary of State for the War Department to be used.

43. Every person who shall receive enlisting money in manner aforesaid, knowing it to be such, shall, subject to the provisions herein-after contained, upon such receipt be deemed to be enlisted

as a soldier in Her Majesty's service, and while he shall remain with the recruiting party shall be entitled to be billeted.

44. Every person so enlisted as aforesaid shall, within ninety-six When recruits hours (any intervening Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday not to be taken before a justice. included) but not sooner than twenty-four hours after such enlistment, appear, together with some person employed in the recruiting service, before a justice of the peace, not being an officer of the army, for the purpose of being attested as a soldier, or of objecting to his enlistment: Provided in the case of recruits for the militia, that nothing contained in the Militia (Voluntary Enlistment) Act, 1875, shall be deemed to affect the validity of the enrolment of any militia recruit who has been enrolled according to the provisions of the Militia Acts thereby repealed, and that hereafter any militia recruit may be attested immediately after enlistment without regard to the interval of twenty-four hours, and by a justice or commissioned officer. And provided that a recruit for the militia in respect of any wilfully false answer given by him to such justice or officer in reply to a question directed to be put by the authorities, shall be deemed to be punishable as if such answer were given before a justice.

enlistment.

45. When a recruit upon appearing before a justice for the Dissent and purposes aforesaid shall dissent from or object to his enlistment, relief from and shall satisfy the justice that the same was effected in any respect irregularly, he shall forthwith discharge the recruit absolutely, and shall report such discharge to the inspecting field officer of the district, or in the case of a recruit enlisted at the head quarters or depôt of a regiment to the officer commanding the same; but if the recruit so dissenting shall not allege or shall not satisfy the justice that the enlistment was effected irregularly, nevertheless, upon repayment of the enlisting money, and of any sum received by him in respect of pay or allowances, and of a further sum of twenty shillings as smart money, he will be entitled to be discharged, and the sum paid by such recruit upon his discharge shall be kept by the justice, and, after deducting therefrom one shilling as the fee for reporting the payment to the Secretary of State for the War Department and to the inspecting field officer of the district, shall be paid over to any person belonging to the recruiting party who may demand the same; and the justice who shall discharge any recruit shall in every case give a certificate thereof, signed with his hand, to the recruit, specifying the cause thereof.

46. If the recruit on appearing before a justice shall not dissent Attesting of from his enlistment, or dissenting shall within twenty-four hours recruits. return and state that he is unable to pay the sums mentioned in the last section, he shall be attested as follows: the justice, or some person deputed by him, shall read to the recruit the questions set forth in the form of attestation ordered by the Secretary of State for the War Department to be used, cautioning him that if he fraudulently make any false answer thereto he shall be liable to be punished as a rogue and a vagabond; and the answers of the recruits shall be recorded opposite to the said questions, and the justice shall require the recruit to make and sign the declaration in the said form, and shall then administer to him the oath of alle

Recruits, until

attested or received pay, not triable by court-martial,

39 VICT. giance in the said form; and when the recruit shall have signed the said declaration, and taken the said oath, the justice shall attest the same by his signature, and shall deliver to the recruiting officer the declaration so signed and attested; and the fee for such attestation, including the declaration and oath, shall be one shilling and no more; and any recruit shall, if he so wish, be furnished with a certified copy of the above-mentioned declaration by the officer who finally approved of him for the service.

47. No recruit, unless he shall have been attested or shall have they have been received pay other than enlisting money, shall be liable to be tried by court-martial; but if any person previously to his being attested or enrolled shall by means of any false answer obtain enlistment or other money, or shall make any false statement in his declaration, but in certain cases punishor shall refuse to answer any question duly authorised to be put to able as rogues him for the purpose of filling up such declaration, or shall refuse or and vagabonds. neglect to go before a justice for the purposes aforesaid, or having in the case of a recruit dissented from his enlistment shall wilfully omit to return and pay such money as aforesaid, in any of such cases it shall be lawful for any two justices within the United Kingdom, or for any one justice out of the United Kingdom, acting for the county, district, city, burgh, or place where any such person shall at any time happen to be, when he shall be brought before them or him, either to attest such recruit as a soldier, or to sentence him to be imprisoned with hard labour in any prison or house of correction for any period not exceeding three calendar months.

Attested re

cruits triable in

some cases

either before

before a courtmartial.

48. Any person who shall have been attested or enrolled in the regular army or reserves, and who shall afterwards be discovered to have given any wilfully false answer to any question directed to be two justices or put by the proper authorities, or shall have made any wilfully false statement in the declaration herein-before mentioned, shall be liable, at the discretion of the proper military authorities, to be proceeded against before two justices in the manner herein-before mentioned, and by them sentenced accordingly, or to be tried by a district or garrison court-martial for the same, and punished in such manner as such court shall direct; and the declaration purporting to be made by such person on his attestation or enrolment in accordance with the regulations of the Secretary of State shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed sufficient evidence, whether before such justice or justices or before any court-martial, of such person having represented the several particulars as stated in such declaration.

Recruits absconding.

49. If any recruit shall abscond, so that it is not possible immediately to apprehend and bring him before a justice for attestation, the recruiting party shall produce to the justice before whom the recruit ought to have been brought for that purpose a certificate of the name and place of residence and description of such recruit, and of his having absconded, and shall declare the same to be true; and the justice to whom such certificate shall be produced shall transmit a duplicate thereof to the Secretary of State for the War Department, in order that the same may appear in the "Police Gazette." For the purposes of this section and all purposes of attestation and enlistment, a justice of any county or borough shall be deemed to be a justice of any other county or borough.