Part 529

Art. 67. No garrison, or regimental court-martial shall have the power to try capital cases, or commissioned officers; neither shall they inflict a fine exceeding one month’s pay, nor imprison, nor put to hard labor, any non-commissioned officer or soldier, for a longer time than one month.

Art. 68. Whenever it may be found convenient and necessary to the public service, the officers of the marines shall be associated with the officers of the land forces, for the purpose of holding courts-martial and trying offenders belonging to either; and in such cases the orders of the senior officer of either corps, who may be present and duly authorised, shall be received and obeyed.

Art. 69. The judge advocate, or some person deputed by him, or by the general or officer commanding the army, detachment, or garrison, shall prosecute in the name of the U. States, but shall so far consider himself as counsel for the prisoner, after the said prisoner shall have made his plea, as to object to any leading question to any of the witnesses, or any question to the prisoner, the answer to which might tend to criminate himself; and to administer to each member of the court, before they proceed upon any trial, the following oath, which shall also be taken by all members of the regimental and garrison courts-martial:

“You A. B. do swear that you will well and truly try and determine, according to evidence, the matter now before you, between the United States of America and the prisoner to be tried; and that you will duly administer justice, according to the provisions of ‘An act establishing rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States,’ without partiality, favor, or affection: and if any doubt shall arise, not explained by said articles, according to your conscience, the best of your understanding, and the custom of war in like cases: and you do further swear, that you will not divulge the sentence of the court until it shall be published by the proper authority: neither will you disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of the court-martial, unless required to give evidence thereof as a witness, by a court of justice, in a due course of law. So help you God.”

And as soon as the said oath shall have been administered to the respective members, the president of the court shall administer to the judge advocate, or person officiating as such, an oath in the following words:

“You A. B. do swear, that you will not disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of the court-martial, unless required to give evidence thereof as a witness, by a court of justice in due course of law; nor divulge the sentence of the court to any but the proper authority, until it shall be duly disclosed by the same. So help you God.”

Art. 70. When a prisoner arraigned before a general court-martial shall, from obstinacy and deliberate design, stand mute or answer foreign to the purpose, the court may proceed to trial and judgment as if the prisoner had regularly pleaded not guilty.

Art 71. When a member shall be challenged by a prisoner, he must state his cause of challenge, of which the court shall, after due deliberation, determine the relevancy or validity, and decide accordingly; and no challenge to more than one member at a time shall be received by the court.

Art. 72. All the members of a court-martial are to behave with decency and calmness; and in giving their votes, are to begin with the youngest in commission.

Art. 73. All persons who give evidence before a court-martial, are to be examined on oath or affirmation in the following form:

“You swear or affirm (as the case may be) the evidence you shall give in the cause now in hearing, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God.”

Art. 74. On the trials of cases not capital, before courts-martial, the deposition of witnesses not in the line of staff of the army, may be taken before some justice of the peace, and read in evidence: provided, the prosecutor and the person accused are present at the taking the same, or are duly notified thereof.

Art. 75. No officer shall be tried but by a general court-martial, nor by officers of an inferior rank, if it can be avoided: nor shall any proceedings or trials be carried on excepting between the hours of eight in the morning, and three in the afternoon, excepting in cases, which, in the opinion, of the officer appointing the court-martial, require immediate example.

Art. 76. No person whatsoever shall use any menacing words, signs, or gestures, in presence of a court-martial, or shall cause any disorder or riot, or disturb their proceedings, on the penalty of being punished, at the discretion of the said court-martial.

Art. 77. Whenever any officer shall be charged with a crime, he shall be arrested and confined in his barracks, quarters, or tent, and deprived of his sword, by the commanding officer. And any officer who shall leave his confinement before he shall be set at liberty by his commanding officer, or by a superior officer, shall be cashiered.

Art. 78. Non-commissioned officers and soldiers, charged with crimes, shall be confined, until tried by a court-martial, or released by proper authority.

Art. 79. No officer or soldier who shall be put in arrest, shall continue in confinement more than eight days, or until such time as a court-martial can be assembled.

Art. 80. No officer commanding a guard, or provost marshal, shall refuse to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge, by an officer belonging to the forces of the United States; provided the officer committing, shall, at the same time, deliver an account in writing, signed by himself, of the crime with which the said prisoner is charged.

Art. 81. No officer commanding a guard, or provost marshal, shall presume to release any person committed to his charge, without proper authority for so doing, nor shall he suffer any person to escape, on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a court-martial.

Art. 82. Every officer or provost marshal, to whose charge prisoners shall be committed, shall, within twenty four hours after such commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his guard, make report in writing, to the commanding officer, of their names, their crimes, and the names of the officers who committed them, on the penalty of being punished for disobedience or neglect, at the discretion of a court-martial.

Art. 83. Any commissioned officer convicted before a general court-martial of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, shall be dismissed the service.

Art. 84. In cases where a court-martial may think it proper to sentence a commissioned officer to be suspended from command, they shall have power also to suspend his pay and emoluments for the same time, according to the nature and heinousness of the offence.

Art. 85. In all cases where a commissioned officer is cashiered for cowardice or fraud, it shall be added in the sentence, that the crime, name, and place of abode and punishment of the delinquent, be published in the newspapers in and about the camp, and of the particular state from which the offender came, or where he usually resides, after which it shall be deemed scandalous for an officer to associate with him.

Art. 86. The commanding officer of any post or detachment, in which there shall not be a number of officers adequate to form a general court-martial, shall, in cases which require the cognizance of such a court, report to the commanding officer of the department, who shall order a court to be assembled at the nearest post or detachment, and the party accused, with necessary witnesses, to be transported to the place where the said court shall be assembled.

Art. 87. No person shall be sentenced to suffer death, but by the concurrence of two thirds of the members of a general court-martial, nor except in the cases herein expressly mentioned; nor shall more than fifty lashes be inflicted on any offender, at the discretion of a court-martial; and no officer, non-commissioned officer, soldier, or follower of the army, shall be tried a second time for the same offence.

Art. 88. No person shall be liable to be tried and punished by a general court-martial for any offence which shall appear to have been committed more than two years before the issuing of the order for such trial, unless the person, by reason of having absented himself or some other manifest impediment, shall not have been amenable to justice within that period.

Art. 89. Every officer authorised to order a general court-martial, shall have power to pardon or mitigate any punishment ordered by such court, except the sentence of death, or of cashiering an officer; which, in the cases where he has authority (by article 65) to carry them into execution, he may suspend, until the pleasure of the president of the United States can be known; which suspension, together with copies of the proceedings of the court-martial, the said officer shall immediately transmit to the president, for his determination. And the colonel or commanding officer of the regiment or garrison, where any regimental or garrison court-martial shall be held, may pardon or mitigate any punishment ordered by such court to be inflicted.

Art. 90. Every judge advocate, or person officiating as such, at any general court-martial, shall transmit, with as much expedition as the opportunity of time and distance of place can admit, the original proceedings and sentence of such court-martial, to the secretary of war, which said original proceedings and sentence shall be carefully kept and preserved in the office of said secretary, to the end that the persons entitled thereto may be enabled, upon application to the said office, to obtain copies thereof.