The Courts-Martial (Royal Navy) Rules 2007

1. Introductory Text

2. PART 1 PRELIMINARY

   1. 1. Citation and commencement

   2. 2. Interpretation

   3. 3. Service on an accused

3. PART 2 PROSECUTION OF OFFENCES

   1. 4. Referring a case to the prosecuting authority

   2. 5. Withdrawal of election in a multiple charge case

   3. 6. Referring back in a multiple charge case before charges are preferred

   4. 7. Charge sheet

   5. 8. Charges and joinder

   6. 9. Notifying the accused’s commanding officer

   7. 10. Notifying the court administration officer

   8. 11. Notification of proceedings

   9. 12. Discontinuing proceedings before arraignment

   10. 13. Referring back in a multiple charge case after charges already preferred

   11. 14. Amending charges and additional charges before arraignment

4. PART 3 COURT ADMINISTRATION

   1. 15. Delegation of the court administration officer’s functions

   2. 16. Appointment of court officials

   3. 17. Notification of time and place for hearing of the proceedings

   4. 18. Ineligibility for membership of courts-martial

5. PART 4 WITNESSES

   1. 19. Notification of witnesses

   2. 20. Witness not called by the prosecuting authority

   3. 21. Issue of witness summons on application to a judge advocate

   4. 22. Application for witness summons to produce a document, etc: special rules

   5. 23. Application for witness summons to produce a document, etc: judge advocate’s assessment of relevance and confidentiality

   6. 24. Power to require advance production

   7. 25. Issue of witness summons of the judge advocate’s own motion

   8. 26. Witness summons no longer needed

   9. 27. Application to withdraw a witness summons

   10. 28. Issue etc of witness summons and variation of requirements

   11. 29. Service of witness summonses

6. PART 5 EVIDENCE

   1. 30. Procedure for the admission of evidence of bad character

   2. 31. Procedure for the admission of hearsay evidence

   3. 32. Additional evidence

7. PART 6 PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS

   1. 33. Preliminary hearing

   2. 34. Preliminary hearing in open court

   3. 35. Preliminary hearing without notice to the accused

   4. 36. Challenges and oaths at a preliminary hearing

   5. 37. Substance of a preliminary hearing

8. PART 7 ARRAIGNMENT

   1. 38. Arraignment

   2. 39. Severance

   3. 40. Guilty plea

   4. 41. Alternative charges

   5. 42. Procedure after not guilty plea

   6. 43. Procedure after guilty plea

   7. 44. Pleas of guilty and not guilty on one charge sheet

9. PART 8 PROCEEDINGS AT COURT-MARTIAL

   1. 45. Dispute on facts after plea of guilty

   2. 46. Change of plea

   3. 47. Additional charges after arraignment

   4. 48. Changes to the charge sheet after arraignment

   5. 49. Changes to the charge sheet by the judge advocate

10. PART 9 GENERAL MATTERS

    1. 50. Conduct of the defence

    2. 51. The judge advocate

    3. 52. The president of the board and members

    4. 53. Sittings and adjournments

    5. 54. Record of proceedings

    6. 55. Challenges by the accused

    7. 56. Oaths and affirmations

11. PART 10 PROCEEDINGS AT TRIAL

    1. 57. Commencement of the trial

    2. 58. Judge advocate sitting alone

    3. 59. Opening address

    4. 60. Additional evidence during trial

    5. 61. Expert evidence

    6. 62. Exhibits

    7. 63. Presence of witnesses

    8. 64. Evidence through live television

    9. 65. Examination of witnesses

    10. 66. Submission of no case to answer

    11. 67. Finding of not guilty before conclusion of the defence

    12. 68. The case for the defence

    13. 69. Witnesses for the defence

    14. 70. Further evidence

    15. 71. Closing addresses

    16. 72. Summing up

    17. 73. Deliberation on finding

    18. 74. Special finding

    19. 75. Record of finding

    20. 76. Offences taken into consideration

12. PART 11 SENTENCING

    1. 77. Sentencing procedure after guilty plea

    2. 78. Pre-sentence report and previous convictions

    3. 79. Evidence before sentencing

    4. 80. Evidence on behalf of the accused

    5. 81. Deliberation on sentence

    6. 82. Postponement of deliberation on sentence

    7. 83. Announcement of sentence

    8. 84. Conclusion of the proceedings

13. PART 12 REVIEW OF COURT-MARTIAL FINDING AND SENTENCE

    1. 85. The petition

    2. 86. Reasons

14. PART 13 MISCELLANEOUS

    1. 87. Appeal to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court

    2. 88. Application of the rules to civilians

    3. 89. Bankers’ Books Evidence Act 1879

    4. 90. Circumstances not provided for

    5. 91. Revocations and transitional proceedings

15. Signature

16. 1. SCHEDULE 1

       CHARGES AND JOINDER

       1. PART 1 RULES

          1. 1. (1) A charge sheet shall be in the form specified...

          2. 2. More than one incident of the commission of the offence...

          3. 3. (1) An charge sheet may contain more than one charge...

          4. 4. The charges must be numbered consecutively

          5. 5. Where an offence created by or under an enactment states...

          6. 6. It shall be sufficient in a charge sheet to describe...

          7. 7. Where the offence charged is one which can be committed...

          8. 8. Where the offence charged is one which may render the...

       2. PART 2 FORM

    2. SCHEDULE 2

       FORMS

    3. SCHEDULE 3

       PRELIMINARY HEARING

    4. SCHEDULE 4

       OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS

       1. PART 1 MANNER OF ADMINISTERING OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS

          1. 1. The person taking the oath shall hold the New Testament,...

          2. 2. If any person to whom an oath is administered desires...

          3. 3. If none of the forms of oath provided in this...

          4. 4. A person making a solemn affirmation instead of taking an...

       2. PART 2 FORMS OF OATH

          1. 5. President of the board and members other than the judge advocate

          2. 6. Persons under instruction

          3. 7. Interpreter

          4. 8. Witness aged 18 years or over

          5. 9. Witness under the age of 18 years

       3. PART 3 FORM OF SCOTTISH OATHS

          1. 10. The form of Scottish oath shall in each case be...

       4. PART 4 FORM OF SOLEMN AFFIRMATIONS

          1. 11. The form of affirmation shall in each case be the...

    5. SCHEDULE 5

       CIVILIANS

       1. PART 1 MODIFICATIONS FOR CIVILIANS

       2. PART 2 ADDITIONAL RULES FOR CIVILIANS

          1. 1. Accused’s parent or guardian

    6. SCHEDULE 6

       REVOCATIONS

17. Explanatory Note