The Armed Forces (Court Martial) Rules 2009

Interpretation: proceedings and parties U.K.

2.—(1) Unless otherwise stated, any reference in these Rules to proceedings includes—

(a) preliminary proceedings,

(b) trial proceedings,

(c) sentencing proceedings,

(d) variation proceedings,

(e) appellate proceedings,

(f) activation proceedings, F1 ...

(g) ancillary proceedings [F2 and

(h) review of sentence proceedings,]

but does not include the exercise of any power of the court otherwise than at a hearing.

(2) In these Rules—

“activation order” means—

(a)

an order under [F3 paragraph 13(1)(a) or (b) of Schedule 16 to the Sentencing Code] (activation of suspended sentence of imprisonment);

(b)

an order under section 191(3) (activation of suspended sentence of service detention); or

(c)

an order under section 214(3) (reactivation of detention and training order);

“activation proceedings” means proceedings for the making of an activation order, but does not include sentencing proceedings in which the court has power to make such an order;

“ancillary proceedings” means—

(a)

a hearing under rule 127 of an application under section 285(4) for leave to appeal out of time from the Service Civilian Court; and

(b)

proceedings under any provision of Part 18;

“appellate proceedings” means proceedings of the court (other than sentencing proceedings) on appeal from the Service Civilian Court;

“community order proceedings” means any proceedings under Chapter 1 of Part 18;

[F4 “domestic abuse” has the same meaning as in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021;]

“preliminary proceedings” means any proceedings of the court held for the purpose of arraigning a defendant on a charge or giving directions, orders or rulings for the purpose of trial proceedings;

“related proceedings”, in relation to preliminary proceedings, means—

(a)

trial proceedings in respect of any charge to which the preliminary proceedings relate;

(b)

any further preliminary proceedings in relation to such trial proceedings; and

(c)

any sentencing proceedings in respect of any offence found proved in such trial proceedings, or as respects which the offender pleads guilty in the preliminary proceedings or related proceedings;

[F5 “review of sentence proceedings” means proceedings before the court under section 304D (review of sentence following offer of assistance) or section 304E (review of sentence following failure to assist);]

“sentencing proceedings” means proceedings for the sentencing of—

(a)

a person convicted by the court on a plea of guilty or in trial or appellate proceedings, or

(b)

a person convicted by the Service Civilian Court who appeals against sentence,

and does not include variation proceedings;

“trial proceedings” means proceedings for the trial of a charge by the court (including proceedings authorised by an order of the Appeal Court under section 19 of the 1968 Act), and does not include sentencing proceedings;

“variation proceedings” means proceedings under Part 15.

(3) References in these Rules to a party to any proceedings are to—

(a) a person to whom the proceedings relate;

(b) the Director; and

(c) where the proceedings are for the hearing of an application (and the applicant is not a person to whom the proceedings relate), the applicant.

(4) References in these Rules to a person to whom proceedings relate are to—

(a) in the case of preliminary or trial proceedings, a defendant;

(b) in the case of sentencing proceedings, an offender who falls to be sentenced;

(c) in the case of variation proceedings, an offender in respect of whom a sentence which falls to be varied has been passed;

(d) in the case of appellate proceedings, an appellant;

(e) in the case of activation proceedings, the offender in respect of whom the court has power to make an activation order;

(f) in the case of community order proceedings, the offender in respect of whom the overseas community order was made;

(g) in the case of a hearing of an application under section 232(1) for the variation or revocation of a service restraining order, the person in respect of whom the service restraining order was made;

(h) in the case of a hearing of any other application (other than community order proceedings), the applicant;

(i) in the case of proceedings under section 229 (service restraining orders) in respect of a case remitted to the court by the Appeal Court under section 230(3), the person whose appeal was allowed; F6 ...

(j) in the case of a hearing under rule 151 (certification of contempt of court), the person whose offence the court is to consider certifying [F7 ; and

(k) in the case of review of sentence proceedings, the person on whom the court has passed a sentence.]

(5) In these Rules—

“the Director” means the Director of Service Prosecutions;

“defendant” means a person against whom a charge allocated for Court Martial trial has been brought.

Textual Amendments

F1 Word in rule 2(1) omitted (16.10.2024) by virtue of The Armed Forces (Court Martial) (Amendment) Rules 2024 (S.I. 2024/1036), rules 1(2), 3(a)(i)

F2 Rule 2(1)(h) and word inserted (16.10.2024) by The Armed Forces (Court Martial) (Amendment) Rules 2024 (S.I. 2024/1036), rules 1(2), 3(a)(ii)

F3 Words in rule 2(2) substituted (1.12.2020) by Sentencing Act 2020 (c. 17), s. 416(1), Sch. 24 para. 384 (with Sch. 27); S.I. 2020/1236, reg. 2

F4 Words in rule 2(2) inserted (4.7.2022) by The Armed Forces (Service Court Rules) (Amendment) Rules 2022 (S.I. 2022/605), rules 1(2), 7

F5 Words in rule 2(2) inserted (16.10.2024) by The Armed Forces (Court Martial) (Amendment) Rules 2024 (S.I. 2024/1036), rules 1(2), 3(b)

F6 Word in rule 2(4) omitted (16.10.2024) by virtue of The Armed Forces (Court Martial) (Amendment) Rules 2024 (S.I. 2024/1036), rules 1(2), 3(c)(i)

F7 Rule 2(4)(k) and word inserted (16.10.2024) by The Armed Forces (Court Martial) (Amendment) Rules 2024 (S.I. 2024/1036), rules 1(2), 3(c)(ii)