Naval Discipline Act 1957

61 Courts-martial to sit in open court

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and to any provisions of General Orders under section fifty-eight of this Act with respect to the deliberations of the court upon their finding and sentence or upon other matters specified in those Orders, a court-martial shall sit in open court and in the presence of the accused.

(2) It is hereby declared that a court-martial has the like power to order the exclusion of the public from its proceedings as a civil court; and without prejudice to any such power, a court-martial may order that, subject to such exceptions, if any, as the court may specify, the public shall be excluded from all or any part of the proceedings of the court if it appears to the court that any evidence to be given or statement made in the course of the proceedings or of that part of the proceedings, as the case may be, might otherwise lead to the disclosure of any information which would or might be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.