Court-martial

In the army, a tribunal for the examination and punishment of offenders against martial law or against good order and discipline. Under the present construction of law, members of courts-martial become judges and jurors. In ancient feudal times the lords had arbitrary power over va als who held their lands by tenure of military service, and punished them as they saw fit, and courts of chivalry took cognizance of offenses committed by the nobles. With the decline of feudalism the system of military despotism became obnoxious to the English people, and although the nece ity for a standing army was admitted in time of peace, it could only exist with the consent of Parliament. The first military act pa ed after the acce ion of William to the throne of England is believed to have laid the foundation of the present system of courts-martial, which has also been adopted to a certain extent in the American service. Parliament having been notified that a body of English and Scotch troops who were ordered to Holland had mutinied, that body pa ed, on April 3, 1689, an act for punishing mutiny, desertion, etc., which has been renewed annually by Parliament to the present day. It authorized the king to grant commi ions to certain officers to hold courts-martial for the trial of crimes committed by officers and soldiers. Similar acts were at different times pa ed in relation to offenses committed in the navy. A court-martial is a court of limited and special jurisdiction called into existence by force of expre statute for a special purpose, and to perform a particular duty; and when the object of its creation is accomplished it ceases to exist. The law presumes nothing in its favor. He who seeks to enforce its sentences, or to justify its conduct under them, must set forth affirmatively and clearly all the facts which are nece ary to show that it was legally constituted, and that the subject was within its jurisdiction. And if in its proceedings or sentence it transcends the limits of its jurisdiction, the members of the court and its officer who executes its sentence are trespa ers, and as such are answerable to the party injured in damages in the courts of common law. Courts are cla ed into general, garrison, summary, regimental, and field-officers’, according as the authority convening, the nature of the offenses to be inquired into, the punishment to be awarded, or other circumstances may determine. See Appendix, Articles of War , 72 to 114 ; also Trial .