Armed Forces Act 1966

25 Jurisdiction of civil courts.

(1) The [1955 c. 18.] Army Act 1955 shall have effect with the substitution, for section 133, of the following section:—

“133 (1) Where a person subject to military law—

(a) has been tried for an offence by a court-martial or has had an offence committed by him taken into consideration by a court-martial in sentencing him, or

(b) has been charged with an offence under this Act and has had the charge dealt with summarily by his commanding officer or the appropriate superior authority,

a civil court shall be debarred from trying him subsequently for an offence substantially the same as that offence; but except as aforesaid nothing in this Act shall be construed as restricting the jurisdiction of any civil court to try a person subject to this Act for an offence.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a person shall not be deemed to have been tried by a court-martial if confirmation is withheld of a finding by the court-martial that he is guilty of the offence, or of a finding by the court-martial that he is not guilty of the offence by reason of insanity;

(b) a person shall not be deemed to have had an offence taken into consideration by a court-martial in sentencing him if confirmation of the sentence is withheld or the sentence is quashed;

(c) a case shall be deemed to have been dealt with summarily by the commanding officer or appropriate superior authority notwithstanding that the finding of that officer or authority has been quashed, or the award of that officer or authority quashed or varied, on the review thereof”.

(2) The Air Force Act 1955 shall have effect with the substitution, for section 133 thereof, of a section in other respects similar to that set out in subsection (1) above but modified by the substitution, for the words " military law " , of the words " air-force law ".