Air Force Act 1955

Civil offences

70 Civil offences

(1) Any person subject to air-force law who commits a civil offence, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, shall be guilty of an offence against this section.

(2) In this Act the expression " civil offence " means any act or omission punishable by the law of England or which, if committed in England, would be punishable by that law ; and in this Act the expression " the corresponding civil offence" means the civil offence the commission of which constitutes the offence against this section.

(3) A person convicted by court-martial of an offence against this section shall—

(a) if the corresponding civil offence is treason or murder, be liable to suffer death ;

(b) in any other case, be liable to suffer any punishment or punishments which a civil court could award for the corresponding civil offence, if committed in England, being a punishment or punishments provided by this Act, or such punishment, less than the maximum punishment which a civil court could so award, as is so provided:

Provided that where a civil court could not so award imprisonment, a person so convicted shall be liable to suffer such punishment, less than cashiering in the case of an officer, or detention in the case of a warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or airman, as is so provided.

(4) A person shall not be charged with an offence against this section committed in the United Kingdom if the corresponding civil offence is treason, murder, manslaughter, treason-felony or rape.

(5) Where the corresponding civil offence is murder or manslaughter, an offence against this section shall be deemed, for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection, to have been committed at the place of the commission of the act or occurrence of the neglect which caused the death, irrespective of the place of the death.