Court martial, courts usually convened for the purpose of trying offences against military or naval discipline, and also for administering martial law. Previous to 1640 ordinances were issued by the king for the trial of these offences, and justice was administered under the old court of chivalry of which the earl marshal was the president. The military laws adopted by the commanders during the Thirty Years war, however, were not without their effect on Eng. military law, and we may safely say that court martial were instituted in the reign of Charles I.
A general Courts-martial, is the only court which has authority to try an officer, or to pass a death sentence, or a sentence t involving imprisonment for more than 2 years. It must consist of at least five officers. A field 1 general C. is convened in war-time when held ., necessary by the officer in command of troops r on active service, and when it is impossible to if convene an ordinary general court-martial. The ordinary procedure of a general court marshal must be maintained as far as possible, and the prisoner is to allowed to conduct his own defense and to address the court himself.
How does court martial or war council work?
These cases are leaving one’s commanding officer in order to go in search of plunder; sleeping or being drunk when on sentry duty; breaking into a house in search of plunder; forcing or striking a soldier who is acting as a sentinel; and forcing a safeguard. Public opinion also strongly animadverted on certain forms of field punishment, in view of which flogging and the tying of offenders to guns or vehicles have been abolished.
Improvements were effected in procedure and in the requirements as to the qualifications of officers constituting a court, and regimental C. were abolished, a change justified by the marked diminution of crime in the Brit. Army. Sentences of C. during the First World War were not always put into execution, and the Army Suspension of Sentences Act, passed in 1915 is still operative.
Naval Courts-martial.
These courts are held under the authority of the Naval Discipline Act, 1957. From the time of the Stuarts down to the time of the third George, discipline in the navy was regulated only at the discretion of the commanders, under the authority of the Admiralty. In more cases than not this meant that the law was badly administered, and depended too largely upon the whims and fancies of the commander.
Under the Naval Discipline Act, however, the court must consist of from five to nine officers of certain fixed rank and may be held on board one of H.M. ships or ashore, either within or without the U.K. The sentence, save in the case of the death penalty, does not need confirmation by the commander-in-chief of the station, but all proceedings are reviewed by the Navy Dept of the Ministry of Defence to whom the Act has given powers to quash or alter findings and to remit or alter sentences. In exercising their duty to review, the Navy Dept has before it the report of the Judge Advocate of the Fleet in each case.
Martial court, martial court or court martial is the name of the military court that determines punishments to members of the Armed Forces subject to the laws of military law. Virtually every military in the world maintains a court-martial system for the trial of military personnel who somehow break discipline, hierarchy, or military rule. In addition, it can be used to prosecute and prosecute prisoners of war for war crimes or against humanity.
