Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/317

Rh M I L M I L 299 legal question connected with a court martial. The department of the judge advocate general consists of the judge advocate general, vlio is a lawyer, a privy councillor, and a member of parliament, of a permanent deputy judge advocate general who is also a lawyer, and of three military officers as deputy judge advocates having special experience in the working of military law. The Army Act applies to European officers and soldiers serving in India in the same manner as to the rest of the army, but natives of India are governed by their own Articles of War, and in the case of civil offences they are dealt with according to the provisions of the Indian penal code. The department of the judge advocate general in India is distinct from and independent of that of the judge advocate general of the army, and courts martial held in that country are not subject to the supervision of a professional lawyer. Certain prominent irregularities led to the appointment of a barrister as judge advocate general in India in 1869, but after a few years that appointment again became filled by a military officer. The staff of the department is, however, far more numerous in India than elsewhere. There are judge advocates general for each of the presidencies, and a deputy judge advocate at each of the more important military centres. Statistics of Crime in tlw Army. Commissioned officers are rarely subjected to trial by court martial. Where an officer com mits himself in a military sense, and his misconduct is too serious to be passed over merely with a mark of official displeasure, he is usually given and seldom fails to accept the alternative of resigning his commission. In some instances the crown is advised to exercise its prerogative and remove him from the army on the ground that her majesty has no further occasion for his services. In no circum stances can an officer or soldier claim a court martial as a right. In the result, the annual number of trials of officers does not average more than four of late years. Among the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the army, however, the trials and summary punish ments by commanding officers are exceedingly numerous, as will presently be seen. In India this observation hardly holds good, for in that country desertion is physically almost impossible except at the two or three seaports where troops are stationed. Absence without leave is for a similar reason of rare occurrence, while the fact of the troops living in their own cantonments, and being free from many temptations of life existing in the large towns and garri sons at home, places them outside the influence of certain prevalent causes of crime. For this reason mainly the proportion of courts martial held in 1881 was 107 per 1000 men at home as compared with 76 abroad. Similarly the proportion of minor punishments per 1000 was 1449 at home to 1042 abroad. It is also generally found that men engaged upon active service in the field commit less crime than those serving in ordinary circumstances. But the general criminal statistics of the army for 1881 show a formidable amount of crime and punishment. Upon an average strength of 181,186 n^n-commissioned officers and men there were 16,523 courts martial, of which 179 were general, 8549 district, and 7795 regi mental courts. There were also 224,681 minor punishments by com manding officers, including 44,108 fines for drunkenness. These figures generally show an increase of crime as compared with the two years immediately preceding, but these two exhibited a decrease upon previous years. Of the offences tried by court martial in 1881 the following were the principal : mutiny 7, desertion 1597, offences in relation to enlistment (fraudulently enlisting while already belonging to the service or making false answers upon attestation) 1190, violence to and disobedience of superiors 1650, minor insubordination and neglect of orders 1472, quitting or sleep ing on post 681, drunkenness on duty 2661, drunkenness (tried by court martial when the offence has been committed on a fifth occasion within twelve months) 2147, disgraceful conduct of various kinds 660, absence without leave not amounting to desertion 3293, making away with or losing by neglect equipment or necessaries 3768, and miscellaneous offences chiefly of an ordinary criminal character or to the prejudice of discipline 4181. Upon the 16,523 trials there were 349 findings of acquittal. Regarding the punish ments awarded, it appears that no soldier was sentenced to death during the year, and the other awards were as follows : penal servitude 104, imprisonment with or without hard labour (almost invariably the former) 12,125, discharge with ignominy without other punishment 42, stoppages of pay without other punishment 65, flogging (before the abolition of that punishment by the Act of 1881) 15, and the new summary punishment (authorized as a sub stitute for flogging) 3. Of the non-commissioned officers 3228 were punished by reduction to a lower grade or to the ranks, while 591 more suffered imprisonment in addition to loss of grade, the former number being in the proportion of about 12 and the latter of 2 per cent, to strength. Of the men tried 305 were pardoned. Military Law of other Countries. The administration of military law in other countries having large armies harmonizes in many important respects with that of England. In some indeed it is a question whether their systems are not superior and in advance. They have a considerable body of &quot;auditors&quot; or military lawyers who expound the law and do much to secure a uniform and exact administration of justice. Thus in Austria there are about five hundred of these auditors, one being attached to each regiment. In the same country there are also courts of appeal from the courts of first instance, these latter consisting of eight persons including the auditor. Where the prisoner is a non-commissioned officer or a private, that rank is represented on the court. Here also the confirmation of superior authority is required. In the German army there are general and regimental courts. An auditor who is a lawyer is attached to each division, and it is his duty to expound the law, collect the evidence, and read it to the court in the presence of the prisoner, who is asked if he has any thing to say. The court consists of eleven members, of whom upon the trial of a private soldier or non-commissioned officer three are of the rank of the accused. The power of commanding officers in regard to disciplinary punishments is greater than in the British army, especially in relation to officers, who may be placed in arrest for fourteen days. The non-commissioned officers and privates are liable to extra guards, drills, fatigues, and different degrees of arrest, some of a very severe character. Dismissal from the army, which is re garded as a most severe punishment, involving civil disgrace, is often awarded. In Russia there are three kinds of military courts namely, the regimental court martial, the tribunals of military districts, and the supreme tribunal at St Petersburg. They are permanent courts, are attended by legal persons, and in certain instances have jurisdiction over the civil population as well as the army. There is a judge advocate general at St Petersburg, where the supreme tribunal consists of general officers and high war-office functionaries who have studied military law or possess a large experience of its working. In Italy there are permanent military tribunals for the trial of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, while special tribunals are appointed to try officers. The court is the absolute judge of the facts, but regarding legal errors or irregularities an appeal lies to the supreme war tribunal, which con sists of four civilian judges and three general officers. The French code corresponds in many respects with those of the other great Continental armies, but it tends rather to give individual officers large powers of imprisonment graduated according to their rank. The chief distinctive feature of the French system is the institution of regiments of discipline for refractory characters. When the general officer s power of imprisonment (two months) is exhausted the offender may be sent before a court of discipline and by them drafted into a compagnie de discipline ; and cases of habitual miscon duct are thus dealt with, the man being struck off the strength of his original corps and transferred to one in Algeria. The military law of the United States is founded upon and proceeds much upon the same lines as that of England. (J. C. O D. ) MILITARY TACTICS. See WAR. MILITIA. The militia of the United Kingdom consists of a number of officers and men maintained for the purpose of augmenting the military strength of the country in case of imminent national danger or great emergency. In such a contingency the whole or any part of the militia is liable, by proclamation of the sovereign, to be embodied, that is to say, placed on active military service within the confines of the United Kingdom. The occasion for issuing the proclamation must be first com municated by message to parliament if it be then in session ; if it be not sitting, parliament must be called together within ten days. For the purpose of keeping the force in a condition of military efficiency, the officers and men are subjected to one preliminary training for a period not exceeding six (usually about two) months, and further to an annual training not exceeding fifty-six (usually twenty- eight) days. The force is composed of corps of artillery, engineers, and infantry. Infantry militiamen are formed into battalions constituting part of the territorial regiment of the locality of which the regular forces are the senior battalions. The officers and men when called out are liable to duty with the regulars and in all respects as regular soldiers within the United Kingdom. Of late years the men have been raised exclusively by voluntary enlistment, but where a sufficient number for any county or place is not thus raised a ballot may be resorted to in order to complete the quota fixed by the queen in council for that county or place. Each man is enlisted as a militiaman for the county, to serve in the territorial regiment or corps of the district. The period of engagement is not to exceed six years, but during the last of these years a militiaman may be re engaged for a further period also not exceeding six years.